February 25, 2020 – Washington Co., WI – Ash Wednesday observance schedules are below. Feel free to chime in if I’ve missed one and I will add it to the post.
Saint Frances Cabrini: 8 a.m.
Saint Mary’s Immaculate Conception: 6:15 a.m., Noon and 7 p.m. in Spanish
Holy Angels: Word Service with Ash Distribution at 7 a.m., Mass with Ash Distribution at 8 a.m., Word Service with Ash Distribution at 12 p.m., Mass with Ash Distribution at 5:30 p.m.
Holy Trinity, Newburg: 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.
St. Peter Catholic Church in Slinger at 8 a.m., 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.
St. Lawrence 8 a.m. and 7 p.m.
Resurrection Catholic Church in Allenton. Ash Wednesday Masses at 12 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Good Shepherd Lutheran, 777 S. Indiana Ave, West Bend has Ash Wednesday service at 10 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.
St. John’s Lutheran West Bend services Wednesday 3:30 p.m. and 6 p.m.
St. Kilian in Hartford with Mass at 8:20 a.m., prayer service with ashes at 12 p.m., and Mass at 7 p.m.
St. John, Rubicon, 5:30 p.m. – Mass
Ash Wednesday services will be held as follows at Holy Hill: 6 a.m. – St. Therese Chapel – Level 2 and 11 a.m. – Basilica – Level 3
Rev. Howard Haase from Holy Angels Parish wrote about the Lenten season in Sunday’s bulletin.
In many ways it is hard to believe the season of Lent has arrived, in other ways it seems Lent ought to be half over by now; no matter which way you look at it the time is here and beginning Wednesday the sacred season of Lent is upon us with the celebration of Ash Wednesday.
The season invites us to put aside, whether an individual or a community, the busyness that so often gets in the way of freeing ourselves to more readily respond to the call of the Spirit in our lives.
We have to make some space during Lent for fasting, for the giving of alms and for prayer if we are to celebrate it in a genuine manner or I might even say to celebrate it at all.
As I mentioned above our lives are incredibly busy, how can we be “church,” in the best sense of the term, if we are not able to take some time to listen to the stories of faith and allow ourselves to be transformed by the sacred word of God?
How can we be church if we do not listen to the ways God responds to our questions? How can we be church and call ourselves people of God when we make no room for God?
Faith and conversion are not merely willed and\or some sort of magic; like any other relationship it takes hard work on a daily basis.
Through prayer we allow the relationship we desire with God to grow and discover the relationship God desires with us in new ways and experiences.
Lent is also about fasting; it is not simply the denial of food but maybe through hunger (again not simply about food) we might discover what we truly need or desire at the core of our being. Our faith tradition speaks about all sorts of things and\or activities the early Christians denied themselves; they exercised all types of disciplines and in doing so discovering a deeper sense of gratitude for the gifts God had showered upon them.
Finally, Lent is also about the giving of alms. The giving of alms is not merely about money, though that certainly may be part of it, it is about finding balance in a world where there is too often an imbalance when it comes to money, power, goods, and the use of the Earth itself. Giving of alms, on the part of all of us, ought to help right the wrongs caused by greed, power or anything else for that matter.
Allow yourself to use your imagination when it comes to working on what you have to share and how generous you are called to be.I mention the above issues not so we enter the time of Lent feeling guilty but to help us all approach this sacred time with a sense of possibility, recognizing the blessing this time can be for all of us.
I pray this time can be for you a time when you can make some room for God in the midst of all the busyness that is part of your lives. May the fasting, prayer and giving of alms help you to do this that you may come to know more deeply the love God has for you and in celebrating that love, celebrate more deeply Easter joy.
Lenten Blessings, Rev. Howard
Sunday, March 1, 2020, 4:00 PM – 5:45 PM
Starts March 1, ends on Sunday April 5, and also includes a Good Friday walking Stations of the Cross pilgrimage from St. Frances Cabrini to St. Mary’s in West Bend where we will watch the Passion of the Christ (permission slips needed for this) and have a soup dinner in a spirit of fasting. We will meet in the JPII room in the lower Church at St. Frances Cabrini (enter through lower doors)
**Freshman and Sophomores: If you attend all six sessions, it will count as a retreat experience.**
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