Ash Wednesday

My dear friends in Christ,

Today launches the Annual Catholic Appeal across the Diocese of Trenton. We seek to gather the entire Catholic community as one through the Annual Catholic Appeal, recognizing God’s blessings in our lives, offering our gifts as followers of Jesus, working together day after day for the salvation of the world. Let us be united in prayer for those we serve, united in Christ through the Eucharist. Our parish goal is $70,000. May God bless you in your generosity.

Lent lies at the very heart of our Catholic Faith. Each year, on Ash Wednesday, March 1st until Holy Thursday, April 13th, we spend 40 days being led into the desert of our own hearts to look within, face our sins, and ask for God’s mercy. The model Jesus gave us for “these forty days” was His own experience of the desert and the temptations that followed Him there where He encountered Satan face to face. Forty days was chosen as the time of preparation because it was symbolic of the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness before embarking on His public ministry. Forty days also recalls the 40 years that the Israelites wandered in the desert before entering the Promised Land.

Please note the schedule for Ash Wednesday, March 1st, 2017. We will have three Masses in which ashes will be distributed: 8:00 AM, 10:00 AM, and 7:00 PM. There will be no other services for distribution of ashes.

May Lent be a time of penance, grace, and joy for us all.

May God bless you all!
Fr. John