Lent & Holy Week 2023

Lent is a 40 day season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends at sundown on Holy Thursday. It's a period of preparation to celebrate the Lord's Resurrection at Easter. During Lent, we seek the Lord in prayer by reading Sacred Scripture; we serve by giving alms; and we practice self-control through fasting. We are called not only to abstain from luxuries during Lent, but to a true inner conversion of heart as we seek to follow Christ's will more faithfully. We recall the waters of baptism in which we were also baptized into Christ's death, died to sin and evil, and began new life in Christ.

Many know of the tradition of abstaining from meat on Fridays during Lent, but we are also called to practice self-discipline and fast in other ways throughout the season. Contemplate the meaning and origins of the Lenten fasting tradition in this reflection. In addition, the giving of alms is one way to share God's gifts—not only through the distribution of money, but through the sharing of our time and talents. As St. John Chrysostom reminds us: "Not to enable the poor to share in our goods is to steal from them and deprive them of life. The goods we possess are not ours, but theirs." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2446).

In Lent, the baptized are called to renew their baptismal commitment as others prepare to be baptized through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, a period of learning and discernment for individuals who have declared their desire to become Catholics.
 

PALM SUNDAY: April 2
7:30 am, 9:00 am, 10:30 am, 12:00 pm

HOLY THURSDAY: April 6
(No Morning Mass; Morning Prayer 8:30 am)
Mass of the Lord’s Supper - 7:30 pm
Eucharistic Adoration – following Mass until 11:00 pm
Night Prayer - 10:45 until 11:00 pm
Holy Visit to Three Churches

GOOD FRIDAY: April 7
(No Morning Mass; Morning Prayer 8:30 am)
Commemoration of the Lord’s Passion and
Veneration of the Cross with Holy Communion - 3:00 pm
Meditation on the Seven Last Words - 7:30 pm

HOLY SATURDAY: April 8
(No Morning Mass; Morning Prayer 8:30 am)
Blessing of Easter Food - 1:00 pm
GREAT AND SOLEMN VIGIL OF EASTER - 8:00 pm

EASTER SUNDAY: April 9
THE RESURRECTION OF THE LORD
7:30 am, 9:00 am, 10:30 am, 12:00
 

ASH WEDNESDAY: February 22, 2023
Mass (with Ashes) - 7:00 am, 8:30 am, & 7:00 pm
Ash Service - 12:15 pm & 5:15 pm

CONFESSIONS
Tuesday & Wednesday - 6:30 pm  – 7:30 pm
Saturday - 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm
The last date for private Confession before Easter is April 5.

STATIONS OF THE CROSS
Fridays during Lent - 7:30 pm
(On March 3, First Friday Mass will follow Stations of the Cross)

LENTEN DAY OF RECOLLECTION
“Lent: Lord, Let Me Walk This Road With You”
with Fr. Stas Lukaszewski
Saturday, March 11 - Beginning with 8:30 am Mass 

LENTEN STATIONS OF MERCER COUNTY
(click for more info/full schedule)
Mass & brief history of St. Gregory the Great Church
Monday, March 6 - 7:00 pm

LENTEN PENANCE SERVICE
Wednesday, March 22 - 7:00 pm

ST. FAUSTINA'S WAY OF THE CROSS
(Compiled from the Diary of
Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska and Scripture) 
Monday, April 3 - 6:30 pm