Dear Parishioners,
This Sunday is the Second Sunday of Lent - and in the blink of an eye we are officially well in to the Church's season of preparation.
During this Season, we Catholics are called to do three things as we prepare for the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior. We are called on to Pray, we are called on to Fast, and we are called on to Give Alms. All three are deeply rooted in the Scriptures in both the Old and New Testament. When we look closely at what it is we are really being asked, it is to Sacrifice. During this time, we are asked to "live" what we are asking of God by putting ourselves second - and Him first - in everything, so that we may attain Salvation.
Pray. Fast. Give Alms. If we do all three to the point of real discomfort, we will find that the discomfort becomes peace and eventually it will become difficult to go back to the way we were before.
Now on to the news...
LENT 2021
Lent 2020 was a challenging period of time in our lives. Now it is time to move forward.
This year ICC has committed itself to helping you with that. We want you to prepare well, so that you can truly celebrate Easter. We want you back in spirit, mind and body, and we are going to help you on that path. Here is what we are doing to make that happen.
READING MATERIALS: So far, we are pleased to report that the copies of the "Word Among Us" booklet we placed in church before Ash Wednesday were immediately depleted! Since they went so quickly, we have added brochures entitled "How to Observe Lent as a Catholic" for you to pick up. Take them! Use them. Get them all wrinkled and dog eared. They are yours.
EMAILS: As you also know, we have scheduled daily Lenten reflections via email, as well as weekly Lenten Reflections by Bishop Barron. We have been receiving a lot of comments and compliments on them, both in person and online, and many of you have been sharing what you have been doing so far this Lent. It has been amazing and inspirational!
FIRST CLASS VIDEOS AND INSTRUCTION: Most excitingly, we have secured free access to all of Bishop Barron's movies and series for you - which are excellent to say the least. We are so happy to hear that so many of you having been watching them, and we strongly recommend his series "The Mass" (which we are featuring above) and "Catholicism". If you only watched these two series, it would make having made it available to you well worth it.
ICC ONLINE STATIONS OF THE CROSS
If you cannot make it to our weekly Lenten Friday Stations of the Cross at 7:30PM, you can watch them on our website homepage (or above). Our ICC Stations of the Cross were recorded here, and include the responses so you can more fully participate in them. We hope they help you on your Lenten Journey.
Follow Us on Instagram
If you would like a lighter, daily look at ICC life, follow us on Instagram!
Just to keep things interesting... once we hit 50 followers, we are going to start a weekly giveaway called "Wonder-Full Wednesdays"... So follow us and find out more!!!
Well, that's it for today! The Mass for this Sunday will be posted on our website homepage, and the readings are below.
Just remember that ICC is here for you through it all - from inclement weather to pandemics - because He is here for us always.
Sincerely Yours in Christ,
Fr. Ashman