Green “today,” purple “tomorrow.” The weeks of Ordinary Time that have followed the Christmas Season now give way to Lent, which will begin this week on Ash Wednesday, March 6. You will find the schedule of liturgies here at St. Peter’s Church, on the Northbridge Campus of Salmon Health for residents of Beaumont and Whitney Place, as well as at Milford Regional Medical Center in this bulletin.
Lent was among the earliest developments in the liturgical life of the Universal Church. It was both a time of unique preparation of those who would be welcomed into the Church at the great feast of all feasts – the celebration of Easter, and a time of renewed focus upon the Paschal Mystery for all those living in Communion with Christ. The very rites of our Easter Vigil take much of their shape and substance from that ministry to reveal the Mystery to those being initiated and to welcome them to share intimately in that Mystery in Word and Sacrament. The liturgies of all of Holy Week summon us as believers to be immersed anew in the service, the passion, the death, and the resurrection of Christ.
On Ash Wednesday, we are invited and encouraged to gather for this corporate act of making ourselves more fully open to and during the weeks ahead more fully committed to that Mystery of Christ’s dying and rising. Submitting to be signed with the blessed ashes, we offer to and seek support from the living Body of Christ, the Church. We pledge to ourselves, to one another, AND to God to turn away from sin and to believe the Good News, for we acknowledge we are dust and to dust we all return. These ashes are not a “brand” we wear to impress the world, but rather a commitment to ourselves, to one another, and to GOD that we KNOW we have some work to do in the weeks ahead, and with God’s grace and mutual support we will do it. Extra effort, deeper sacrifice, more time given to prayer on our own and in the company of the Church, will meet the abundance of God’s grace, and Holy Week and Easter will, indeed, be a time of great rejoicing!
During the days ahead, David Supernor will be accompanied by Peter Sabourin through the final stages of his journey to be welcomed into full communion with the Catholic Church. His journey becomes one with ours, and our journey is all the richer for the gift of his presence among us! Please keep David and Peter in your prayers!