Portland St. Patrick Catholic School

Lent, from the Middle English word Lenten, meaning springtime – the time of lengthening days, is a period of 40 days of fasting, prayer, and penitence before Easter.  Lent traditionally begins on Ash Wednesday and ends at sundown on Holy Thursday.

Lent offers us all a special opportunity to grow in our relationship with God and to deepen our commitment to a way of life, rooted in our baptism.  It is an opportunity to reflect on our lives, pray more deeply, repent of the wrongs we have committed or in what we have failed to do, and to be charitable to those in need.

All of us at St. Patrick School have begun to spend time preparing for Lent.  Students and staff  will attend Mass on Ash Wednesday.  The distribution of ashes reminds us of our own mortality and calls us to repentance. In the early Church, Ash Wednesday was the day on which those who had sinned, and who wished to be readmitted to the Church, would begin their public penance. The ashes that we receive are a reminder of our own sinfulness, and many Catholics leave them on their foreheads all day as a sign of humility.  Some other activities that our students will be involved with during Lent are:

•    Stations of the Cross:  Each Friday during Lent, students will come together and pray the Stations of the Cross.  The Stations of the Cross are a Catholic devotion which commemorates the Passion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Each of the fourteen stations represents an event which occurred during Jesus' Passion and death at Calvary on Good Friday.  

•    Sacrament of Reconciliation.  Students in even numbered grades (students in odd numbered grades received the Sacrament during Advent) will receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

•    Operation Rice Bowl:  There will a renewed sense of charitable giving.  Students will participate in Operation Rice Bowl to raise money to help feed those less fortunate in our area and around the world.  

•    The student council will hosts a Red Cross Blood drive on Thursday, March 4.

Lent is a time to focus on repenting from our sins and consecrating ourselves to God, not on trying to earn God's favor or increase His love for us.  What are you doing to prepare for the death and Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Good Friday and Easter Day?