Lent

A huge increase in demand for its services already this year has seen Rugby Foodbank come up with a new way to encourage support for its work to help those ...

Encourage attendees to bring a non-perishable food item or make a financial donation.” Advertisement

I started going to Ash Wednesday services when I was working in New York City, in an office a few blocks from the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

“There is a balm in Gilead,” the choir sang in the cathedral. I knew which teas she kept in a jar and the taste of the persimmon cookies she made. Ash Wednesday not as a private meditation but as a communal practice; Ash Wednesday in a place I lived rather than a place I visited: This was the remembrance I needed. From my vantage point on the stage, I watched my fellow congregants, only 15 of them, form a line and approach the altar. The ashes in the bowl are made from the fronds of the palms we waved the year before. From our place on the stage, my husband and I sang our way through the service. There can be a strange beauty in the difficult and the macabre, in silence and penitence. John the Divine, I am part of the life of this congregation. If we’re not careful, Lent in the life of the church can be like a John Keats ode, a tragic play, or a sad song: there to provide emotional release. Was it wrong to look forward to a service about a subject—my sin, my death—that I was supposed to face with fear and trembling? In the Howells Requiem, in Bach’s St. I went to the cathedral only on special occasions like Ash Wednesday, when the professional choir would sing polyphony and spirituals and Gregorian chants.

Often there isn't much time to prepare for the 40-day season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, beyond a hasty resolution to give up something — alcohol, fast ...

But what he means when he says that it should be a perpetual Lent isn’t that the monk should be perpetually miserable, because he emphasizes that Lent is a joyful season because it orients our eyes toward what is the source of our joy, which is Christ’s Pasch. The important thing at the end of Lent is to ask: Have I arrived? At the end of Lent, is it good to look back and ask ourselves if we’ve observed the season well? Pasolini devoted it to Pope John XXIII, and it is a moving and, I think, extremely realistic depiction of the Gospel. A crucial aspect of almsgiving is hollowing out that capacity for mercy in myself and touching that vulnerable core where my heart is touched in compassion by the need and the misery of others. It’s an ecstatic practice in the strict sense of that word: It helps me to step outside myself and toward the other, and to grow in attentiveness. And Easter is the assurance that life eternal is restored to us. The Church teaches that Lent should be a time of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. And the whole point of Lent is to prepare us precisely for Christ’s victory over death. And that’s the really important thing: that these 40 days aren’t just a time during which we have to grit our teeth in order to arrive at our destination. To ground us in the real, which the Church is good at doing, if we listen. Benedict](https://www.solesmes.com/sites/default/files/upload/pdf/rule_of_st_benedict.pdf), which says that “the life of a monk ought always to have a Lenten character”?

The season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and lasts about six weeks, culminating with Easter Sunday. It is the day Christians believe Jesus rose from the ...

The season of Lent is a pilgrimage. The book is divided into weeks and features a Bible verse at the start of its eight chapters. Clemente Lisi is a senior editor at Religion Unplugged and teaches journalism at The King’s College in New York City. McCaulley does a masterful job and offers a mix of research and personal history to bring the meaning of Lent to life. In this magnificent tome (Westminster John Knox Press), author Jill Duffield makes the case that God “works through the ordinary.” She has a point. Dedicated to prayer and meditation, the book is beautifully illustrated and features art by noted illustrator Valerie Delgado. Esau McCaulley, a theologian and associate professor of New Testament at Wheaton College, the book details why Christians have to undergo this process ahead of Holy Week. It’s in this gospel that we learn about Jesus’ ministry and how that connects to our daily lives. This book (InterVarsity Press) about Lent focuses on exactly what the title suggests — both repentance and renewal. The season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday — which this year falls on Feb. (REVIEW) Christians around the world are anxiously preparing for the season of Lent. In this book (Thomas Nelson Publishers) by Dr.

In Genesis, we meet a cool speculator. “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, 'Did God ...

In the Epistle to the Colossians, a list describes life before we have put on Christ. The world is a place of limited resources and ominous threats. We live in the presence of divine mystery suffusing all creation, and so are invited to wonder and exultation. There is, of course, another way to see the world, of which we are all quite aware. The Devil promotes “critical thinking skills” in the face of a mystery we know only in part. 3:1) The serpent stands aloof from the divine, suggesting that it is possible to live by something other than “every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt.

From the Anglo-Saxon Lencten, meaning springtime, Lent is the 40–day period of prayer, penance, and spiritual endeavour in preparation for Easter. Lent is not ...

We walk the way of the Cross and find meaning to our suffering and pain. Through the way of the Cross we understand that we are not alone in our life journey. The three main pillars of the season of Lent are: Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving. Indeed, the virtue of love is bound up in this great pillar of Lent. Lent is then I would call it a retreat of 40 days, a time to live in the spirit of his Baptism, a time of penance in the ancient sense of repentance, metanoia - change of heart and mind, conversion. May we never undervalue the source of grace from God that fasting allots for us. It is a call to repentance; It also reminds us of our own mortality as well as the eternal life we share with Jesus through his Cross. Lent is not an end in itself; it exists only to lead to the paschal feast and so can be rightly understood only in the light of Easter. The accumulated evidence of Christian tradition in this regard shows without any doubt that the real aim of Lent is, above all else, to prepare Christians for the celebration of the death and RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. The season of Lent begins with the Ash Wednesday. Easter gives meaning to Lent and shows it for what it is: the great paschal retreat of the Church. From the Anglo-Saxon Lencten, meaning springtime, Lent is the 40–day period of prayer, penance, and spiritual endeavour in preparation for Easter.

We will hear the words drawn from Genesis 3:19 and Psalm 103: “Remember, you are dust and unto dust you will return.” These words not only remind us of the ...

We will revel in God’s mercy in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We should do them quietly and as a way of thanking God for his mercy to us. If indeed we stand in need of God’s mercy, we should not trumpet our deeds of mercy. Lent is the season of fundamentals. Lent is therefore a season that brings us face to face with the fundamentals of our life. We will hear the words drawn from Genesis 3:19 and Psalm 103: “Remember, you are dust and unto dust you will return.” These words not only remind us of the shortness of life but also of our origins, for as we read in Genesis, God formed Adam out of the dust of the ground.

A Reflection for Tuesday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time, by Zac Davis.

When we ask “What should I give up for Lent?” Jesus comes back around and asks us the same thing he asked Bartimeaus: “What do you want me to do for you?” The weaning off of bad habits, the grief of giving up an unhealthy attachment. The answers to these questions are deeply personal, which is why there is no shortcut, no Buzzfeed quiz or flowchart to tell you what you should give up for Lent. I find this to be a perfectly normal way of proceeding. There is adversity coming in the second half, but remember your training and persevere. I take it as no coincidence that the reading comes just before our annual Lenten journey begins.

Lent begins 46 days prior to Easter Sunday. The 40-day season — not counting Sundays — is marked by repentance, fasting, reflection and ultimately celebration.

After a period of personal confession and prayer, the congregation is invited to receive the ashes on their foreheads, administered by the priest or pastor in the shape of a cross. The mood of the service is typically solemn, with long periods of silence and reflection. But many may not know what Ash Wednesday is, and why Lincoln County residents may be seen with ash on their foreheads in the shape of a cross.

In time for Ash Wednesday tomorrow—and in the heart of El Paso—PETA has erected a sky-high message in the parking lot of Wendy's, which is serving fish In ...

In addition, 38 million tons of other aquatic animals are unintentionally caught each year to satisfy humans’ demand for “seafood.” Animals are not mentioned in Genesis 1:29, which states that God provides “every seed-bearing plant” and “every tree whose fruit contains seed” as food for humans. Despite all this, more fish are killed for food each year than all other animals combined. “PETA is encouraging people to observe a Lent that’s kind to all, because fish feel pain and fear, just as all animals do,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat,” and which opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview—offers a Nearly 80% of El Paso’s residents are Catholic.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, an important time for Catholics and Christians leading up to Easter.

"Say yes to other things that are that are important, whether it's serving others, engaging in prayer or what have you." Johnston calls Lent a "period of purification and enlightenment." On Ash Wednesday, worshipers are also supposed to fast, allowing themselves to have one meal during the day. It may appear odd, but it is a mark people that practice Catholicism, as well as Christianity, receive at mass on Ash Wednesday, one of the "most popular and important holy days" in the religion. Ash Wednesday is always six and a half weeks before Easter. After a person receives their ashes, they aren't required to leave it on or take it off following Mass, but people typically leave them on for the rest of the day.

The holy holiday is meant to open up Christians to spiritual reflection and to connect with God through communal fasting and prayer. Ash Wednesday occurs ...

However, the Eastern Orthodox begin their Lenten season on a Monday rather than Wednesday. Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans, Baptists, and Methodists are the denominations within the Western Christian world that recognizes Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday occurs approximately six weeks before Easter Sunday — the resurrection of the Christian savior and begotten The main practice of Ash Wednesday is to place ashes on the foreheads of each member of a Catholic congregation. The overall purpose of Ash Wednesday is to honor the 40 days Christ spent in the desert by fasting and practicing self-control. The overall purpose of Ash Wednesday is to honor

Ash Wednesday marks the start of the Lenten season and traditionally in the Catholic faith in Ireland this is observed by receiving ashes – from the Palm ...

STEELSTOWN: Mass times on Ash Wednesday at Our Lady of Lourdes Steelstown will be at 7.45am, 10am and 7pm. ST MARY’S CREGGAN: Mass times at St Mary’s Church in Creggan will be at 7am, 10am and 7.30pm. ST COLUMBA’S LONG TOWER: At St Columba’s Long Tower Church, ashes will be blessed at the 7.00am Mass and distributed at the 7.00am, 10.00am and 7.30pm Masses. This is accompanied by the words 'Dust you are and to dust you shall return’, a quite from the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament. HOLY FAMILY: At Holy Family Church, Ballymagroarty ashes will be distributed at 10am and 7.15pm Masses. St EUGENE’S CATHEDRAL: Mass times for Ash Wednesday at St Eugene’s Cathedral are 8.00am; 10.00am; 1.00pm and 7.30pm.

In preparation for Lent 2023 Archbishop Eamon Martin said: "Over the last year people around the world have experienced death and suffering on a large scale ...

All of us have the capacity to build peace by our words, our actions and our attitudes to others. "Our hearts and prayers continue go out to the suffering people of Ukraine. The effects of climate change continue to impact our most vulnerable sisters and brothers.

In a pastoral letter to parishes last weekend, the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, has urged parishioners to use the weeks of Lent to ...

Or when you come across a person who is feeling alone or neglected, please do speak to them of the love of the Lord and the consolation you find in his presence.” Called “Renewed in Hope”, there will also be a series of Lent daily reflections. Southwark’s spirituality commission will be providing the They can take part as individuals or form or join a team. For example, when someone is sharing with you their sorrow or distress, please don't hesitate to tell them you will pray for them. But there are many moments when speaking of the goodness of the Lord is quite appropriate.

Looking for inspiration on your Easter journey? These bold new devotionals will shore up your spirit. By Julie McGonegal. | February 21, 2023 ...

[Give the gift](https://kck.kckglobal.com/brdv/New-Gift-subscription.aspx?keycode=V21FGWBEND)of Broadview to someone special in your life and make a difference! Lent is a time to examine the mess we’re in and to repent, believing that transformation and rebirth are on the other side. [Subscribe](https://kck.kckglobal.com/brdv/special-offer-page-2.aspx?keycode=V21C2WBEND)to our magazine and you’ll receive intelligent, timely stories and perspectives delivered to your home 8 times a year. There are a number of ways to do so: The authors remind us that age-old religious concepts like self-denial and sacrifice were always intended to have a public, communal component. The climate catastrophe, a lingering pandemic and persistent inequality all make it hard to resist the pull of pessimism.

Christians and Catholics across the world are marking the religious festival of Ash Wednesday, which kicks off the period known as Lent.

Ash Wednesday is a holy day of prayer, fasting and repentance. [Twitter ](https://twitter.com/MetroUK?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor)and It is preceded by Shrove Tuesday and falls on the first day of Lent, the six weeks of penitence before Easter. [Shrove Tuesday](https://metro.co.uk/2023/02/07/when-is-pancake-day-2023-date-for-shrove-tuesday-this-year-18238400/) – known by many as [Pancake Day](https://metro.co.uk/tag/pancake-day/) – and signals the coming of [Lent](https://metro.co.uk/2022/03/02/lent-2022-start-and-end-dates-for-the-period-of-fasting-16196858/). What is Ash Wednesday and who observes the day? [Easter](https://metro.co.uk/tag/easter/), commemorating the resurrection of Jesus.

What is Lent? Lent represents the 40 days Jesus wandered the desert praying and fasting after he was baptized. It is a period of reflection, prayer and penance.

Meat isn't the only thing you can give up for Lent. Lent ends on Holy Thursday, which is April 6, when there is a Mass to represent Jesus' last supper. Sundays during Lent are not "prescribed days" of fasting and abstinence, so those don't count. The ashes also represent penance – sackcloth and ashes. The ashes represent two Biblical themes. [Ash Wednesday](https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2023/02/06/when-is-ash-wednesday-lent-easter-sunday-2023-dates-to-know/69877207007/), the [day after Mardi Gras](https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2023/02/06/when-is-fat-tuesday-mardi-gras-2023/69866182007/) and the start of the Christian Lenten season that leads up to Easter.

Lent is the six-week period before Easter when Christians (usually from a Catholic, Orthodox or Anglican background) will prepare their hearts for the ...

Murphy emphasizes the intention behind observing Lent is to focus on loving God and loving others well. This year, Ascension is gathering on three Wednesday nights throughout the season to enjoy fellowship with one another. In this way, a believer is making room in their life to quiet themselves and hear from God. “The question is, how are we personally drawn into the world in a way that stops [us] from listening to God?” Lent is the six-week period before Easter when Christians (usually from a Catholic, Orthodox or Anglican background) will prepare their hearts for the celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus. This season has been observed by the church for hundreds of years, focusing on dedication to Christ as an individual and a community.

The 19ft tall cross will hang from York Minster's Central Tower until the Feast of Pentecost in May.

The cross hangs in front of York Minster's Grand Organ and will be the focal point during events and services throughout Lent and Easter. The Lent Cross arrived at the cathedral on Tuesday ahead of Ash Wednesday. A huge wooden cross has been suspended from York Minster's Central Tower, to mark the start of Lent.

Remember, however, that Lent is not really about anything you do or read, buy or try. The aim of Lent is increased spiritual fervor — a refocusing on prayer, ...

And [Stations of the Cross cards](https://catholicfamilycrate.com/products/stations-of-the-cross?aff=16) from CatholicFamilyCrate.com are perfect for praying with and displaying in the home. Other titles to consider include this year’s new releases from Catholic publishers, including [Meditations on Death](https://tanbooks.com/meditations-on-death/?rfsn=6890136.aea075) from TAN Books. Adorn the altar with items such as a crucifix, a Bible, prayer books, prayer cards, a missal, icons, paintings, statues, rosaries, candles, holy water, blessed salt, incense or Lenten-themed images like [liturgical art prints](https://catholicfamilycrate.com/collections/lent-triduum/products/lent-liturgical-art?aff=16). [Sacrifice or “good deed” beads](https://www.etsy.com/shop/HappyNestHomeGoods?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=524391100&search_query=sacrifice+beads) are another great way to inspire the daily habit of offering small sufferings. [Stations of the Cross audio CD](https://holyheroes.com/products/the-stations-of-the-cross-holy-heroes-cd?_pos=3&_sid=3b9bde97f&_ss=r?bg_ref=qVMX0LjyAg) from HolyHeroes.com. [Little Way Cards](https://catholicfamilycrate.com/products/little-way-cards?aff=16) at CatholicFamilyCrate.com are so creative and perfectly interactive for children and families wanting to find small ways to make sacrifices throughout the Lenten season. The opportunities to give are abundant. In addition to attending the Stations of the Cross at your parish, bring the devotion to your home. Sophia Institute Press also has some great titles available, like [Aquinas’ Lenten Meditations: 40 Days With the Angelic Doctor](https://www.sophiainstitute.com/products/item/aquinass-lenten-meditations). Lent is a great season to set up a [home altar](https://www.ncregister.com/features/the-domestic-church-in-quarantine-makes-good-use-of-home-altars) or prayer table or shelf in the home. Commit to the Stations of the Cross devotion.

Lent begins this Ash Wednesday, February 22 and begins the time when Christians prepare for the celebration of Easter.

It is both a blessing and a curse - great for keeping in touch, finding out the news and watching funny videos but it's hard to get away from. Who doesn't love a chocolate bar or a nice bag of sweets, especially when relaxing in front of the TV. If you haven’t yet decided what to do, here are 10 ideas that might provide some inspiration.

Six weeks (and one day) is a long time to give up anything, but have you ever wondered why some culinary pleasures – think alcohol, caffeine, sweet treats and ...

“Many of your favourite takeaway classics can be made healthier and cheaper at home,” he says. “Many people find meat incredibly enjoyable to eat, due to its savoury flavour and satisfying texture,” says Kuman. “Start slowly, each day consuming a little less to make the transition easier,” he suggests. “Caffeine affects the central nervous system, so you may get shaky, irritable, and suffer with headaches.” “However, ‘momentarily’ is the key word here. “You could also sign up to a food delivery company, which makes healthy cooking easy and convenient.”