Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church

ELLICOTT CITY , MARYLAND

www.olphparish.org

The Season of

Lent

n Lent we join Jesus in

the desert during his forty
days of prayer and
fasting. Those days had
one great purpose: to
strengthen Jesus absolute
trust and confidence in the
Father. By fasting, Jesus
deliberately put himself in a
place where he needed to rely
on the Father. He deliberately
set aside earthly food as a
way declaring his dependence

P R AY E R
Daily Mass

"In the Eucharist is all the power that created the

universe and all the love that redeemed it!" Join
us for daily Mass and receive the Lords power
and love in your life to help you meet the
challenges and trials of each day. Daily Mass is
offered Monday through Saturday at 8:15am and
Thursdays at 9:30am. The Mass readings are
specially chosen to help draw us more deeply
into Lent. Please join us!

Dont Give Up Chocolate Only!

What are you doing for Lent this year? What if I
told you, Dont give up chocolate only, but rather
do something life changing instead? This year,
our parish is participating in Dynamic Catholics
free e-mail program BEST LENT EVER
Rediscover Jesus. Beginning Ash Wednesday
(February 10), you will receive daily inspirational
emails with short videos from Matthew Kelly to
share simple ways to bring Jesus into your
everyday life. Sign up today by visiting our parish
website at www.olphparish.org.

on the Father, that his trust was in

Him alone. His deep times of
prayer are the positive side of this
same coin: Fasting gave him time
to join himself to the Father in
prayer, to express his love and
trust. In Lent we join ourselves to
Jesus and do what He did: we
deliberately let go of earthly
things in order to strengthen our
trust and confidence in the Father,
and express that trust in times of
deeper prayer and love of
neighbor.

Sacrament of Reconciliation
Sin: its all the times weve fallen short in loving
God and neighbor. Rather than getting used to it,
what if there was a way to start over? What if
there was a way to be strengthened so that we
could break out of our patterns of sin and learn
to love more fully? God offers us His mercy to
do just that. See the last page for the many
opportunities we have to celebrate the
Sacrament of Reconciliation this Lent on
T u e s d a y s , F r i d a y s , Saturdays and at
our Lenten Penance Service. Come and meet
Christ in the Sacrament of His Mercy!
Eucharistic Adoration

At Mass the bread and wine truly become the

Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
feed on His Body and Blood at Mass and the
Church also adores His real presence in
Eucharistic Adoration, when the consecrated host is
visible in the monstrance for prayer and
worship. Eucharistic Adoration takes place every
Friday morning after Mass and continues
throughout the day and night until Saturday
morning Mass. Come and spend some quiet time in
the presence of the Lord it is a great time of
peace, healing and spiritual refreshment.

FRIDAYS OF LENT
8:15am
9:00am

Daily Mass
Eucharistic Adoration
(through the day/night until
8:00am Saturday)
2:30pm
Stations of the Cross
4:30-6:00pm Confessions
6:00pm
Lenten Soup Supper
7:00pm
Stations of the Cross
7:45pm
Lenten Series on Prayer
(Except March 4 when there is a
Festival of Praise at 7:45pm)

Lenten Soup Suppers

Join us every Friday evening of Lent from 6:006:50pm in the Parish Center as our parish
family gathers to share in a simple Lenten Soup
Supper. These simple meals are a good way to
build some fasting into Lent and give you a
chance to join with other families. No RSVP is
needed, just join us!

Stations of the Cross

Join us every Friday of Lent at 2:30pm and
7:00pm in the Church as we pray the Stations of
the Cross. Early in the life of the Church it
became common for pilgrims to walk in the
footsteps of Jesus to Calvary, remembering His
passion and death. When it became too
dangerous for pilgrims to travel to the Holy Land,
the Stations of the Cross became an alternative.
The Stations commemorate Jesus' journey to
Calvary where he died. Originally prayed
outdoors, the Stations of the Cross gradually
moved inside churches where they became a
familiar feature. Join us for this beautiful Lenten
devotion.

Prayer
How to Spend Time with Jesus
Building on their Advent homily series on prayer,
join Fr. Arnold and Fr. John for 30 minutes as they
offer basic, practical tips for what to do when you
sit down for prayer. We all want to pray better, and
we all want to have a prayer life that keeps
drawing us back for more. But what should I be
doing when I pray? What could my 15 minutes, or
hour, look like when I pray? Following each brief
presentation there will be a time to ask any
questions you may have around prayer.

The OLPH Choir is looking for

additional singers for Holy Week!
If youve wanted to get involved
with the Choir but cant make a
yearlong commitment,
please
consider joining the 11:00am
Traditional Choir to participate in one or more of
the Holy Week liturgies. Being a seasonal c h o i r
m e m b e r is a way to enter more deeply into the
celebration of Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good
Friday, and the Easter Vigil. For more information,
please contact Emily Targonski, Director of Music
at 410 747 4334 or Emily.targonski@gmail.com.

Living Stations of the Cross

The Living Stations of the Cross is a powerful witness
to Jesus passion and death. At each station we use our
senses to reflect prayerfully upon Jesus suffering,
death, and resurrection, and to simply experience the
visual images of Christs love for us. Lead by the 7th
Grade class of Our Lady of Perpetual Help School,
join us for the Living Stations of the Cross on
Wednesday, March 23rd at 2:00pm in the church.

FASTING
Lenten Norms for
Fasting and Abstinence
Catholics, age 14 and over, are to abstain from meat
on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and all Fridays
during the season of Lent. Adult Catholics, ages 18
through 59, are to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good
Friday. Fasting is observed by eating only one full
meal and two lighter meals that day and by
refraining from eating between meals. Individuals
who are pregnant, nursing, or ill are excused from
these norms.
Fasting is the voluntary giving up of food, drink,
and other material things that expresses our desire
to bring a healthy balance back to our relationship
with God, ourselves, and others. Poor choices in
daily life can lead us to become enslaved to certain
material things such as food, drink, television, etc.
In fasting, we admit that we are not as free as we
would like to be. In fasting, we exercise the gift of
our free will to say no to certain things (which are
not necessarily bad in themselves) in order to allow
us to say yes to the Lord and to others.
There are a number of benefits to fasting:
v Fasting awakens the heart to the intimate

presence of God in one's soul.

v Fasting encourages more serious reflection
about the priorities in our lives.
v Fasting strengthens our sense of dependence
upon God.
v Fasting sharpens our sensitivity to the spiritual
dimension of life.
v Fasting strengthens our ability to say yes to
God and no to sin.
v Fasting develops greater appreciation for the
gifts of God, especially food and drink.
v Fasting purifies us, spiritually as well as
physically.

Ways to fast:
The season of Lent already comes with some
built-in fasting: Ash Wednesday and Good
Friday are days of fasting and abstinence while
each Friday of Lent we abstain from eating
meat. Remember, though, that meatless Fridays
dont mean we choose lobster instead. Meatless
meals on the Fridays of Lent should be simple,
sacrificial, and lead us to reach out in generosity
to those who are less fortunate through some act
of charity.
The classic form of fasting involves giving up of
food or drink. As children we may have given up
candy during Lent this classic approach can be
as valuable for adults as for children. Any time
we exercise our free will in a deliberate way
over and above our desires we gain control over
our lives the same control that is needed to say
yes to God and no to sin.
We can also fast from an entire meal lunch on
the Fridays of Lent for example. The money
normally spent on that meal could be placed in
the Poor Box at church.
We can also fast from television, music, or the
Internet. While not always bad in themselves,
these forms of entertainment can so fill our lives
that we have trouble hearing God. In place of
television or the computer, we can spend time
with those we love or in quiet prayer with God
(reading from one of the Gospels, looking at
the Sunday Mass readings, etc.) or in service to
others.
Remembering that fasting is a form of penance
and self-denial, there are many other ways that
we can show God our sorrow for our sins: being
generous with others, visiting the sick and
lonely, feeding the poor, studying Scripture,
praying the Stations of the Cross or the Rosary,
practicing self- control, and many others.

A Special Call to Prayer and

Fasting for an End to Abortion
This Lent, our parish is again joining a nationwide,
ecumenical prayer event to help bring an end to
abortion. 40 Days for Life is a peaceful, Christ-like
prayer vigil with participants committing to prayer for
one hour per week. Prayer can take place outside of
the Hillcrest Clinic on Rt. 40, or at home or in church.
Since this became a nationwide prayer effort in 2007,
60 abortion clinics have closed and women in crisis
pregnancies have found hope and help in local crisis
pregnancy centers. For more information on how you
can participate please visit www.40daysforlife.com.

ALMSGIVING
Almsgiving is not only an offering of money to
those in need but an attitude of generosity and
a willingness to share in the burdens of others.
Almsgiving is closely tied to fasting whatever
we save (money or time) should be offered to
the needy. Here are a few concrete ways to give
alms this Lent:

Lenten Poor Box Collections

Help support those in need by contributing to our
Poor Box during Lent. The parish receives
numerous requests each day for help. Thank you
for supporting their work in meeting the needs of
our brothers and sisters!

Casseroles for Our Daily Bread

Catholic Charities Our Daily Bread is
Marylands largest hot meal program,
serving more than a quarter million
meals to the hungry of Baltimore City
each year. Their needs are even greater now than
ever please help our parish respond to this need
by preparing a casserole and returning it to the
parish kitchen freezer. Our parish is committed to
providing casseroles on the first Monday of each
month. Casserole pans and recipes can be picked
up inside the church anytime and may be
returned on the Sunday before the first Monday of
each month. This is a great activity to do together as
a family.

The Sacred Triduum (Latin

for three days) is the 72
hour period at the end of
Holy Week marking the
Passion, Death, burial and
Resurrection of Jesus.
The three days are counted
as the Hebrews counted their
days, from dusk to dusk.
Therefore, the three days of
the Easter Triduum are from
dusk on Holy Thursday to
dusk on Good Friday (day
one), dusk on Good F r i d a y
to
dusk
on
Ho l y
Saturday (day two), and dusk
on Holy Saturday to dusk on
Easter Sunday (day three).
Each
of
those
days
celebrates
and
commemorates the final days
of Jesus as he offered himself
for our salvation.
We look at the Easter
Triduum as one single
celebration that lasts for three
days. We cannot separate the
death of Jesus from his
resurrection. Please join us
for these special celebrations!

Holy Thursday
On this evening we remember and enter into what Jesus did with his
disciples the night before he died: He gave them the new commandment
of love (Love one another as I have loved you. John 13:34), symbolized
in his washing of the disciples feet, he instituted the Eucharist (Do this
in memory of me. Luke 22:19) and prayed for strength in the
garden of Gethsemane (Let your will be done, not mine.
Luke 22:42). The Church celebrates these same events,
washing the feet of parishioners, celebrating the Eucharist and
then ending the evening in prayerful vigil before Jesus present
in the Blessed Sacrament.

Good Friday
Today is one of the most solemn days in the Churchs year when
we recall the death of Jesus on the cross. This is the only day of
the year the Church does not celebrate the Mass. Instead, the
ritual is in three parts: the Liturgy of the Word (when we read
the account of his passion and death), veneration of the cross,
and Communion (consecrated on Holy Thursday evening). This service
does not stand alone; it is a continuation of what began on Holy Thursday.
The veneration of the cross is a practice unique to Good Friday. It is our
opportunity to humble ourselves before the awesome saving action of
Christ.

Easter Vigil

This is the holiest night of the Churchs year as we recall

Christs Resurrection from the dead. Beginning in darkness
with the light of candles, we enter into the celebration of his
resurrection singing the Gloria and Alleluia for the first time since the beginning of Lent. It is on
this night that we welcome men and women into the new life of Christ and His Church by
celebrating the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist for those becoming Catholic.

The Rite of Sending and the Scrutinies

Special Prayers for Those Becoming Catholic
Throughout Lent the Church offers special prayers for those preparing to become Catholic at the Easter Vigil.
D u r i n g S u n d a y M a s s b e o n t h e l o o k o u t as we celebrate the Rite of Sending, a special prayer in which
our RCIA candidates are sent out to the Cathedral where the Archbishop formally elects (chooses) them to
enter into the life of the Church at Easter. This is followed by the Scrutinies on the last three Sundays of Lent
when the Church offers special prayers asking God to deliver them from the power of sin, to protect them
against temptation and give them new strength in Christ. Each of these prayers is based on who Christ revealed
himself to be the Living Water, the Light of the World, and the Resurrection and the Life. Please keep our
RCIA candidates in your prayers!

Lent and Easter 2016

ASH WEDNESDAY February 10
Mass with the blessing and distribution of ashes at 6:30am, 9:30am, 5:00pm and 7:00pm

WEEKDAY MASS Area Parishes

8:15am Monday- Saturday and 9:30am (School Mass) Thursdays at OLPH
7:00am Monday, Wednesday, Friday ~ St. Augustine, Elkridge
8:00am Tuesday-Friday ~ St. Paul, Ellicott City
9:00am Monday-Saturday, 6:30am Tuesday and Friday ~ Resurrection, Ellicott City

FRIDAYS DURING LENT

2:30pm Stations of the Cross (with school children, all welcome)
4:30-6:00pm Confessions
6:00pm Simple Lenten Soup Suppers in the Parish Center
7:00pm Stations of the Cross followed by our Lenten series

SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION

Tuesday evenings at OLPH: 6:00pm 7:00pm

Friday afternoons at OLPH: 4:30pm - 6:00pm
Saturday afternoons at OLPH: 3:00pm 4:15pm
Monday, March 14, 7:00pm Regional Lenten Penance Service hosted at OLPH
Tuesday, March 15, 7:00pm Regional Penance Service hosted at St. Louis, Clarksville

PALM SUNDAY March 20

Palms will be blessed and distributed at all of the regularly scheduled weekend Masses

HOLY THURSDAY March 24

8:15am Morning Prayer
7:00pm Mass of the Lord's Supper, followed by quiet prayer before the Blessed Sacrament
until Midnight (in Parish Center)

GOOD FRIDAY March 25

8:15am Morning Prayer
3:00pm Liturgy of the Lord's Passion, including Veneration of the Cross and Holy Communion

HOLY SATURDAY March 26

(No 8:15am or 4:30 pm Masses, No 3:00pm Confessions)
8:15am Morning Prayer
1:30pm Blessing of Easter Foods in the Church
THE EASTER VIGIL March 26
8:00pm Easter Vigil Mass

EASTER SUNDAY March 27

Easter Masses celebrated at:
7:30am; 9:00am (Church and Parish Center); 11:00am (Church and Parish Center)
Please Note: There is no 5:00pm Mass on Easter Sunday!