The Lenten Journey at
St. Michael in Old Town

St. Michael in Old Town celebrates the holy season of Lent though the ancient disciplines of Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving. We journey with the Elect in the RCIA as they enter this Period of Purification and Enlightenment. Come, join with St. Michael’s faith community, and together  prepare for the great Triduum and the great Feast of Easter. Each week make time for a different prayer experience. Take part in a fasting experience.  Help our brothers and sisters in need through our community plans for almsgiving.

 

Prayer Experiences

Individual Confession

Each Saturday of Lent from 4:45-5:30 PM before the Evening Vigil mass.

 

Devotions

  • Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help:  Tuesdays,  8:30 a.m. & 6:00 p.m.
  • Rosary:  Thursdays, 7:00 p.m.
  • Stations of the Cross: Fridays of Lent, 6:00 p.m. (In the main Church)

 

Other Liturgical Celebrations

Communal Celebrations of Sacrament of Penance:

  • Saturday, March 10 at 11:00 AM  (First Reconciliation); 
  • Saturday, March 17 at 10:00 AM; 
  • Thursday, March 22 at 7:00 PM; and 
  • Saturday, March 31 at 10:00 AM

 

Communal Celebration of the Anointing of the Sick

Sunday, March 25 at 9:00 AM Mass

 

Other Opportunities for Prayer and Reflection

  • Stillpoint: Meditation Group:  Mondays, 7:15 p.m. (Parish Center Chapel)
  • Bible Study:  Tuesdays, 7:00 p.m.-8:30 p.m., (Parish Center) [Registration requested]
  • Lenten Gathering Days: Thursdays (March 1-22), 7:00 p.m.-8:30 p.m.

Fasting

Fasting and abstinence during Lent have long been recognized as a means of preparing for the Paschal Feast. Fasting creates within us an emptying that allows God’s love to enter in a new way.The Pastoral Statement on Penance and Abstinence from the Pastoral Letters of the United States Catholic Bishops provides that all Catholics 14-years and older must abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and all Fridays during Lent. Catholics between the ages of 18 and 59 are obliged to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. “This means eating only one full meal duirng the day, but some food, not equaling another full meal, is allowed if needed.

It is also recommended that Catholics follow their own form of fasting during the weeks of Lent. St. Michael invites you to participte in your fast by considering doing something different each week. Through fasting and abstinence we withdraw from somthing in order to allow for something more important to enter our life. The following ideas are particularly useful for families looking for a way to teach children the lessons of Lent.

Areas to consider:

  • Food and Drink (when, what, and how much we consume)
  • Exercise (how we take care of our bodies)
  • Distractions and Entertaiments (how we use our free time)
  • Other Behaviors (our activities and attitudes)

Please consider using any money you might save while you fast for almsgiving.

Almsgiving

During Lent, we express our gratitude by participating in some form of almsgiving for the sake of our brothers and sisters who need us to be blessing to them. The Human Concerns and Needs Commission models this discipline of Lent throughout the year. During this Lenten season, the Commission is sponsoring a food drive to help restock the Catholic Charities’s food pantry. All parishioners and friends are encouraged to contribute items nutritious in nature such as  peanut butter, cereal, and canned tuna, canned fruit, and canned vegetables. The items will be collected on each Sunday of Lent, including the Saturday vigil Mass. Cash gifts will also be accepted. Label envelopes containing cash donations Lenten Food Cash Offering. As a symbol of the faithful’s Lenten practice of almsgiving to the poor and needy, all of collected cash and food items will be added to the procession of gifts that is brought up to the altar during the Offertory. During this Lenten season, please consider donating substantially to the Commission’s ongoing food drive for the poor, using monies saved by participating in the fasting suggestions.

The Triduum

The Center and Heart of the Catholic Liturgical Year

The exercises of Lent are focused to help the faithful strip away all things that have cluttered up their lives in recent months and to help them reestablish or deepen their relationship with God in Christ. Catholics live out the Paschal Mystery (life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ) most fully when they celebrate the Sacred Mysteries of the Triduum.

What is the Triduum?  Triduum is a Greek work which means “The Three Days.”  It is not three days as normally counted, however, because these particular three days actually span four calendar days.  The Triduum begins at the Evening Mass of the Last Supper, on Holy Thursday, April 5 at 7:00 p.m. (Father Donaldson, celebrant)  and continues on April 6, Good Friday, with the Celebration of the Passion of Our Lord at 3:00 p.m. (Father Morin, celebrant) and on Holy Saturday, April 7, with the Easter Vigil at 8:00 p.m.(Father Santa, celebrant). The Triduum concludes on Easter Sunday, April 8. Masses will be held at 9:00 a.m.(Father Keena, celebrant)  and 11:00 a.m. (Father Donaldson, celebrant)  Please Note:  There is  no evening mass on Easter Sunday.