Ash Wednesday

Study: Reflect on a moment when sin has touched your life.  Where did you find God’s grace at work?

Pray: Take some time for personal reflection.  Make this an Examination of Conscience to recall how God continues to touch your heart and bless your life.

Serve: Consider a simple and practical way that you can care for another this Lent.  Something personal…something real.

Ash Wednesday Readings

Fr. Andrew’s Homily Podcast

“Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”

These are the words we hear today as we come forward to begin a new Lent.  We physically mark our foreheads – smudge them with grimy ashes – to recall the simple fact that we are all sinners and stand in need of God’s mercy.

And what great mercy it is!  Perhaps that’s why we pause.  We need mercy.  We crave forgiveness.  We hunger to be loved simply and gently, no strings attached, no conditions required.

These ashes remind us that we need….God.

Pause today.  We reflect on what is broken or wounded in our lives – to discover where we are hurting.

Then look outward.  This is our opportunity to consider how we have broken or wounded others – recognizing that perhaps another has suffered through our thoughts, words, or deeds.

Ashes.

Repentance.

God’s Grace.

Have a blessed and holy Lent.