Greetings in Christ!
Here we are in the first week of Lent; can you believe it? The crazy part is that next year Lent starts very late. All of this is determined by Easter, which is always the First Sunday after the Paschal Full Moon (the first full moon after the Spring Equinox). From there, they subtract 40 days (not counting Sundays) and that is Ash Wednesday.
I hope you remember that we are doing themed preaching during Lent. Each weekend Fr. Le, the Deacons and I will preach a homily based on one of the last seven phrases Christ said from the cross. Here is the schedule:
Feb 18 – “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
Feb 25 – “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
March 3 – “Woman, behold your son. Son, behold your mother!”
March 10 – “I Thirst”
March 17 – “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!”
March 24 – “It is finished”
One of the things we are asked to do during Lent is to donate and next week we will present you with an opportunity to do so through our Annual DSA collection.
Churches are totally dependent for their budgets on weekly collections. For the diocese, they don’t have “a” Church, they have the care of all of them, but no means to take up weekly collections. Instead, each year, they ask every parish to donate a certain amount that combined, will help them meet their budget. I’m asking every family reading this to please prayerfully consider donating to DSA by making a pledge next week. Even if it’s what you consider a small amount, it is essential to the diocese that we do our best. We have not hit our parish goal in many, many years and I hope that this year we do.
Fjk