Ash Wednesday

Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, which is observed as a universal day of fasting and abstinence from meat. Ashes, made from the burned palm of the previous Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion, are imposed as a vivid reminder that we are all made from dust and that shortly we will return to dust again. Marked with ashes, we begin Lent with a determination to live the Christian life wholeheartedly as we await the day when we meet the Lord face to face.

Masses: 8:00 a.m.      Noon
                7:00 p.m.      8:15 p.m. (Spanish)

Ashes will be blessed and distributed at all the Masses on Ash Wednesday. As we did last year, ashes will be sprinkled on the top of each person’s head (as is commonly done in Europe) instead of touching the person’s forehead. The Archbishop of Washington has left it up to each Priest to determine whether to touch or not touch individuals in his parish.

The Season of Lent

The 40 days of Lent are a period of penance for sins committed and of renewal of faith, hope and love. The first four weeks of Lent focus on our own conversion while the Fifth Week of Lent and Holy Week focus on the Passion and Death of the Lord Jesus. Lent is characterized by prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. These practices help us grow in the spiritual life, increase virtuous habits and exhibit self-discipline, which is necessary to live the Gospel. In the Scriptures, “forty days” indicates “a long time” and was not intended to be a strict mathematical calculation. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Thursday, the start of the Sacred Triduum. The Sundays of Lent are, of course, Lenten days and do not interrupt the Lenten Season.

Daily Mass
8:00 a.m. each morning Monday – Friday

Lenten Regulations

Fast – Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of fast and abstinence from meat. Catholics between the ages of 18 and 59 inclusive are bound by the law of fasting – limiting ourselves to one full meal and two lesser meals (with no eating between meals) as an expression of penance.

Abstinence – Catholics aged 14 and older are bound to abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and all the Fridays of Lent.

Stations of the Cross
6 p.m. in Spanish and 7 p.m. in English on the Fridays of Lent

Lent Confessions

Confessions are heard on Saturday afternoons from 3 – 3:45 p.m. and on Wednesdays from 7 – 7:30 p.m. All Confessions are heard in the Chapel of Our Lady of the Fields