Ash Wednesday Service:
Sign of the Cross:
Welcome to this years Ash Wednesday Service. Yesterday we celebrated Pancake day by racing up and down the play ground. Today we see the opposite: We move from festivities to fasting, from partying to praying and greed, to giving. Today is the beginning of a time of reflection and as Mr Sumner said on Monday a time to renew our faith and review our values. Today will be split into three parts, Firstly we are going to listen to the word of the Lord, secondly we will think about what we are going to do for Lent. Finally we will receive the ashes, reminding ourselves that this is where our earthly bodies will return.
Opening prayer
Lord,
protect us in our struggle against evil.
As we begin the discipline of Lent,make this day holy by our self-denial.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen
The readings today are beautiful readings that tell us how we are to fast, how we are to pray and how we are to give. The first reading is very short. God in his abundant love is asking his sinful nation to return to him. He is asking this of each of us too. The gospel explains how we should go about fasting praying and giving to the poor. - no body should be aware of our fast, as its for the Glory of the Lord, not for our own reward.
First Reading: Joel 2:12-18
"Yet even now", says the Lord, "return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments". Return to the Lord, your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and forgiving of sinful ways.
This is the word of the Lord
Gospel: Matthew 6:1-6;16-18
"Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them; for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
"Thus, when you give alms, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
"And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
"And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by men but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you".
This is the Gospel of the Lord
Jesus said we should fast, we should give and we should pray. Slide 1 on powerpoint. We are now going to look at how we can practically put these into practice. Play the song now: (Track 13) How are we going to fast? What should we give?Where should we pray?(Slide 2) The slides relate to these three areas: Fasting, giving and prayer and will help answer these questions. As you look through the slides make a commitment to yourself as part of your preparation this Lent.
Rest of Power point
Lots of ideas here. I hope that you have made a decision. I think that the prayer slides may be the hardest section for many of you. Going to mass every Sunday, spending a little more time in the chapel, praying can be difficult if it is not part of our routine. Even being a Christian can be tough. I have some friends who when we go our ask me not to tell people what I do. It will embarrass them, stop the conversation. They think that it will put people off. This is rather hard however as job, work, how you spend you time always comes up in conversation. I bet the same happens when people question you after finding out you go to a Catholic school. What do you say?
Well last summer I spent two weeks with over 1 million Catholics and discovered we are not alone. What was amazing was than many didn’t think that there were Catholics in England. You will see pictures of this in a minute. The more you practice your faith, the more you pray, the more you experience the amazing grace and love that Gods has for us the less you want to keep it a secret. The central part of our faith is the mass. Again, the more time and effort you put into this Eucharistic celebration the more you will understand it. If the priest says “The Lord be with you, what do you say? If I was the priest I would be like – Oh thanks – you really meant that. Lets try again. The Lord be with you… The priest will be like … well alive … there are people out there, they mean what they say.
Remember though its not about what you get out of mass, it is what God gets out of you. (Video – Soul food disk 2 – Part 2 8:13ish! – turn down sound on black screen)
Being a Catholic is not something we should hide. We are part of a world wide Church in which we have a part to play. The mass is one amazing sacrament. It is one of the most important things that we will ever do. 1 Corinthians 11:23 says: For I receive from the Lord what I pass onto you …Jesus himself passed this gift onto us. Later on he says do this in remembrance of me. Perhaps this lent we should re prioritise our lives around that 1 hour a week. Keep Sundays Holy.
TheCatholic church is presently 1.07 billion(according to the Vatican)– that’s a lot. As part of this tradition we pray for each other. So we are now going to pray as a community for those in our church and our lives:
We pray for our church,
We ask that this Lent, we are drawn closer to its body
We pray for our school,
May your spirit guide us in our preparation this Lent and our school community be an example of you love
We pray for our teachers
Help them to guide us during TCT time and inspire us during assemblies
We pray for those who are sick
Comfort them in their illness and heal them with your love
We ask Mary our mother to pray with us as we say … Hail Mary
Prayer should be an important part of our lives. If you are someone who does not have a clue where or how to begin, then like the disciples who said “teach us master how to pray” start with the Our Father. I am now going to show you a slightly different version of this prayer. Its meaning is still however the same.
(Alive and Kicking Cd2 part 1 – 11:29)
BLESSING AND MARKING WITH THE ASHES:
Dear friends in Christ, let us ask our Father to bless these asheswhich we will use as the mark of our repentance.
Lord, bless these ashes by which we show that we are dust. Pardon our sins and keep us faithful to the discipline of Lent, for you do notwant sinners to die but to live with the risen Christ.Almighty God, from the dust of the earth you have created us. May
these ashes be for us a sign of our mortality and penitence and a reminder that only by your gracious gift are we given eternal life;through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.
“Those who desire to receive ashes now come forward. The distributors will sign you with ashes saying "Repent and believe the good news” I ask that you remain silent whilst the ashes are being distributed.
Distribution of Ashes
You may feel that you are on your own this Lent. I suggest that you assist each other and are accountable to each other. This means in times of weakness supporting and encouraging each other. As well as each other we have the God himself assisting us. When Jesus died he left His Spirit. The Holy Spirit is there if we call on him. We need his help, we need his power. So what exactly is the Holy Spirit
Video – Get plugged in
Let us finish today’sliturgy by asking for the Holy Spirit to help us this Lent:
Lord,Pour your spirit out upon this school, Renew our hearts
Bring us closer to you as we fast, pray and give of ourselves during this Lenten season.We ask this in your mighty name,
Amen
May almighty God bless you in the name of the father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen