Lent at SFDS: Please extend invitations to your family, friends, and neighbors

Ash Wednesday: March 9, 2011  Blessing and Distribution of Ashes at all Masses (Worship Center): 9:00 a.m., 5:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m. (bi-lingual) Weekend Masses: Worship Center Saturday: 5 p.m. Sunday: 7:30 a.m., 9:00, a.m., 11:00 a.m., Spanish -- 12:45 p.m. Daily Mass: Stone Chapel Monday through Friday: 9:00 a.m. Monday through Thursday Evenings: Stone Chapel During Lent, the Stone Chapel will remain open until 8:45 p.m. for quiet prayer and reflection. Stations of the Cross & Benediction: Stone Chapel Fridays in Lent: 7:00 p.m. View the SFDS Stations of the Cross Eucharistic Adoration: Stone Chapel First Friday, April 1, 2011 starting at 9:30 a.m. A Holy Hour will follow with a benediction at 10:30 a.m. Sacrament of Reconciliation: Worship Center Saturdays in Lent: 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Parish Reconciliation Service: Tuesday, April 5: 7:30 p.m. (A number of priests will be available to hear individual confessions) The Light is on for You every Wednesday from 7:00 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. in every parish in the Archdiocese.  Confessions will be heard in the Stone Chapel. Power of Forgiveness: A Day of Reflection Description: A video, discussion and prayer offering that shows the limits, difficulties, healing and unforeseen effects an act of forgiveness can have in the live of those who give it. Hear stories from Northern Ireland, 9/11 and the Amish countryside. When: Sunday, April 3 from 1:00pm to 3:30pm in Kilduff Hall. Repeated on Wednesday, April 6 from 10:00am to 12:30 in Rm. 200 in the Education Center. Please RSVP to the parish office to participate. Water, Light and Life Experience the Lenten Gospels in an interactive presentation of drama and music.  This is an inter-parish retreat experience. April 10 at St. Patrick, Havre do Grace April 11 at St. Joan of Arc, Aberdeen April 12 at St. Francis de Sales (7pm to 8pm) Special Easter Appeal through Lenten Sacrifice In this holy season, we are asking each household to decide on their Easter gift to St. Francis de Sales Each day set aside some part of that gift for our parish Easter collection Let us sustain our spirit of self-denial and giving throughout the 40 days of Lent Easter Flower and Memorials Flowers are an important part of our Easter celebration They add to the festivity and remind us of new life Flower envelopes will be sent with your monthly envelopes, and the names of your loved ones will be remembered at all our Easter Masses Easter Egg Hunt Saturday, April 23, 2011 from 1:00 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. Blessing of Easter Food Saturday, April 23, 2011 at 12 noon in the Stone Chapel

Holy Week Services

Passion (Palm) Sunday: April 16 and 17 Blessing and distribution of Palms at all weekend Masses: 5:00 p.m., 7:00 a.m., 9:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m. (Spanish) Monday April 18, Tuesday April 19, Wednesday April 20 Mass: 9:00 a.m. (Stone Chapel) Confessions: 9:30 a.m.

The Paschal Triduum

Morning Prayer will be held in the Stone Chapel at 9:00 a.m. on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday

Holy Thursday, April 21   Mass of the Lord's Supper: 7:30 p.m. (Worship Center) The beginning of the Three Days: tonight we remember the institution of both the Eucharist and the priesthood, and the universal call to holiness and service for all believers.  We welcome the participation of our Spanish community.  This service includes the Washing of the Feet (Mandatum) and the procession with the Blessed Sacrament to the repository in the Stone Chapel.  As the Lord Jesus asked his disciples to watch and pray with him in the Garden of Olives, we keep watch with Jesus throughout the night.  We are encouraged to stay or come back throughout the night to pray.   Night Prayer: 11:00 p.m. (Stone Chapel) A quiet celebration of Night Prayer closes oour time of adoration.  The Blessed Sacrament is removed from the repository and the Chapel is closed.

Good Friday, April 22   Stations of the Cross: 12 noon (Worship Center) We walk the path of Jesus to Calvary.  Our Journey in Faith (JIF) Teenagers will lead us in prayer.   Celebration of the Lord's Passion: 7:30 p.m. (Worship Center) We celebrate the Liturgy of the Word, including the Proclamation of the Passion According to John, the Veneration of the Cross and reception of Holy Communion.  Mass is not celebrated anywhere today.

Holy Saturday, April 23   Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) Preparation Rites: with Morning Prayer at 9:00 a.m. (Stone Chapel) Candidates for Full Communion with the Catholic Church are prepared for the celebration of the Easter Sacraments.   The Easter Vigil: 8:00 p.m. (Worship Center) The Great Easter Vigil begins after dark at 8 p.m. and includes the Service of Light, Vigil Liturgy of the Word, Blessing of Easter Water, Renewal of Baptismal Promises, Reception of Candidates for Full Communion, Confirmation and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

Easter Sunday, April 24 Alleluia! He is Risen!   Mass Worship Center: 7:00 a.m., 9:00 a.m., & 11:00 a.m. Kilduff Hall: 9:00 a.m. & 11:00 a.m. Spanish (Worship Center): 12:45 p.m.

Middle School Lenten Booklet

This small pamphlet was created to help your family journey through this season of Lent. For each week of Lent there is printed the Sunday Gospel, opening and closing prayer and a discussion question for each day, Sunday thru Friday. We encourage you to take 15-20 minutes each day for faith sharing. Begin with the opening prayer followed by a discussion centered on the topic question and concludes with the closing prayer. It is our hope that the using this pamphlet, your family will come closer in your faith. Click on the link below to download the pamphlet in Adobe PDF format: Middle School Lenten Project (Adobe PDF format)

ASH WEDNESDAY, the beginning of the Season of Lent is on March 9, 2011. Our forty-day preparation for the celebration of Easter begins late this year, and is much more a Spring-time event (as the word lent means in Old English). These forty days of Lent commemorate the forty-day fast of Jesus in preparation for his public ministry and is a time of particular preparation for our celebration of the saving death and Resurrection of the Lord. Pope Benedict XVI says, “Lent reminds us…that Christian life is a never ending combat in which the weapons of prayer, fasting and penance are used. Fighting against evil, against every form of selfishness and hate, and dying to oneself to live in God is the ascetic journey that every disciple of Jesus is called to make…” (Ash Wednesday Homily, 2006) During Lent we accompany our Elect (those preparing for Baptism) and our Candidates (those preparing to be received into full communion) on their journey to Easter. We fast from celebrating Baptisms during Lent, as well as from the use of Holy Water (which reminds us of our Baptism). When we miss such things, it calls on us to pray for our brothers and sisters readying themselves for the Easter Sacraments. We fast from the Gloria and the Alleluia during Lent, and our liturgy is more simple and stark so as to highlight the splendor of Easter. Longer periods of silence call us to greater reflection and stillness. This Lenten journey points us to the focal point of our liturgical year – the Paschal Triduum. The ancient observance of Lent was also a time when penitents prepared to be reconciled with the Church. Our Lenten fasting and penance reminds us that we are sinners seeking the forgiveness that Jesus so readily gives.

The Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) is a great gift to the Church. In addition to our regular times of Reconciliation on Saturday afternoon and our Lenten Reconciliation Service on April 5 at 7:30 PM, St. Francis de Sales will be participating in an Archdiocesan-wide effort called The Light is On for You. A priest will be available every Wednesday during Lent (except Ash Wednesday and Wednesday of Holy Week) from 7:00 PM until 8:00 PM in the Stone Chapel to celebrate the Sacrament. Other parishes will also be participating as well. Please take advantage of these times to celebrate God’s wonderful gift of forgiveness. Forgiveness is a powerful act. Both receiving it and offering it to another. During this Lent take an opportunity to reflect on the quality of forgiveness in your life. On Sunday April 3 from 1 to 4 PM and again on Wednesday April 6 from 10 Am to 1 PM, St. Francis de Sales will be offering a workshop called, The Power of Forgiveness. There will be a video on forgiveness followed by discussion and prayer. Prayer and almsgiving are important parts of Lent. Take time to come to daily Mass, or Friday Stations of the Cross. Use the enclosed Little Black Book for personal prayer. Support the work of the St. Vincent de Paul Society by contributing to the Poor Box or bringing in non-perishable items for the food pantry. For our Lenten retreat this year, St. Francis de Sales will be participating in an inter-parish experience with St. Patrick in Havre de Grace and St. Joan of Arc in Aberdeen. The title is Water, Light and Life and will be presented by Sam Kauffman. It is an interactive experience of drama and music intended for all ages. The first night will be April 10 at St. Patrick, the second night will be April 11 at St. Joan and the third night will be April 12 at St. Francis de Sales. You can participate in all three nights or just one (each presentation is independent of the others). They all begin at 7 PM and last an hour. We will also be offering small group Scripture Studies. Groups of 8-12 will meet in peoples homes to reflect on the Lenten Sunday readings. Hosts and facilitators are needed (training is provided). Please contact Beth Taneyhill at the Parish Office if you are intereested in participating. As a community of faith, let us grow together on this Lenten journey to an Easter filled with joy and hope.

Lenten Disciplines: Pentiential Fast and Abstinence   Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of Fast and Abstinence; meals are limited to a single full meal and two lighter meals.  No meat is to be eaten.  All Fridays of lent are days of Abstinence from meat.  All persons 14 years and older are bound by the law of Abstinence.  The law of Fast binds all adults until the age of 60.  Fasting and prayer purifies and clarigies; it disposes us to enter more fully into the saving mysteries of Christ's Passion, Death, and Resurrection.  Food and drink come first, but also consider fasting in relationship to television, speech, and other forms of recreation in your life.  Let our fasting be limited and humble, but consistent and serious.