My spiritual lenten journey begins..

At Most Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana:

Ash Wednesday schedule:
Confessions – 7:45AM, 11AM, 5PM
Mass and Ashes – 8:45AM, 12PM, 6PM

🤟❤️ Today is Happy Valentine’s Day same time Ash. Please click St. Valentine.  Please click Feb 14 2024 USCCB. 🙏📿🙏📿💜🕊️🔥

Update from ETWN on February 14, 2024

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We find in the lives of the saints, like St. Francis of Assisi, that their wholehearted “return to the Lord” was characterized by the three practices the Lord puts before us in today’s Gospel: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. St. Francis would seek out a mountain top or a cave where he could be alone with God in prayer. In fact, one time he told a companion that he had to go into a nearby cave to find a treasure – and, his biographer tells us, that treasure was union with God in prayer. Francis also certainly fasted from food, as well as from many other things that he saw could sidetrack him from “the one thing necessary” (cf. Luke 10:42). Finally, he gave his fine garments to the poor and took care of those who suffered with leprosy.

These three practices led Francis – and lead us – to:

• Union with God (prayer)
• Greater interior peace and unity within ourselves (fasting)
• Union with others (almsgiving)

Today, on this day on which we seek to return to the Lord with all of our hearts, we fast. In doing so, we acknowledge our need for repentance – and when we sincerely do this, we experience the “treasure” that St. Francis found: a deeper union with God, with others, and even within ourselves.

Here are today’s Mass readings:

First Reading: Joel 2:12-18

Psalm: 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 12-13, 14 and 17

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:20–6:2

Gospel: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

Here are a few of EWTN’s faith-filled programs to encourage and inspire you this week:

SOLEMN MASS OF ASH WEDNESDAY The Imposition of Ashes ushers in the Lenten season in this Solemn Mass celebrated live with the Franciscan Missionaries at Our Lady of the Angels Chapel in Irondale, Alabama.

Please click Lent: What is Lent and why is it celebrated?

In 2024, Lent begins on February 14 (Ash Wednesday) and ends on March 28 (Holy Thursday), as the Mass of the Lord’s Supper begins. Easter Sunday is March 31.

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