Stations of the Cross will be held every Friday 7.30pm at Mater Dei. For many years a number of Parishioners gather at Mater Dei on Friday nights during Lent to pray the Stations of the Cross. This tradition of the Stations of the Cross has been going on for centuries. Attending the Stations marks for us a way of understanding our struggles in the light of Christ. Please come and join those in our Parish who see this way of prayer as a source of joy, and follow Christ’s Passion, as he walks with
us in our own journey.

Lenten Groups

Please contact the office if you would like to be involved in a Lenten group.

Private Reflection

We have available at the office and both churches ‘Trust Lenten Program 2019’ books for $6.00 to be used for your private reflection.

Reconciliation -The acts of the penitent

They are: a careful examination of conscience; contrition (or repentance) which is perfect when it is motivated by love of God and imperfect if it rests on other motives and which includes determination not to sin again; confession, which consists in telling of one’s sins to the priest; and satisfaction or the carrying out of certain acts of penance which the confessor imposes upon the penitent to repair the damage caused by sin. From: Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: Paragraph 303 (Contributed by the Catholic Enquiry Centre http://www.catholicenquiry.com)

The history of Lent

Lent probably originated with the pre-Easter baptismal rituals of catechumens, although the number of days set aside for fasting varied according to region. Irenaeus (AD 180) testifies to the variety of durations of pre-Easter fasts in the second century. Tertullian (AD 200) suggests that Catholics fasted two days prior to Easter, but that the Montanists (a heretical sect that Tertullian later joined) fasted longer. However, the number forty, hallowed by the fasts of Moses, Elijah, and especially Jesus, probably influenced the later fixed time of 40 days. The Canons of Nicaea (AD 325) were the first to mention 40 days of fasting. Initially the forty day Lenten fast began on a Monday, and was intended only for those who were preparing to enter the Church at Easter. Lent still begins on a Monday in many Eastern Churches. Eventually the West began Lent on Ash Wednesday, and soon the whole Church, and not just catechumens, observed the Lenten fast. The East has no equivalent to Ash Wednesday. The earliest fasts of Lent tended to be very strict, allowing one meal a day, and even then meats, eggs, and other indulgences were forbidden. The Eastern Churches follow this today. Now, in the Western Church, only Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are enjoined as strict fast days, but Fridays are set aside for abstinence from meat. Sundays are not a part of the Lenten fast, because Sunday is always a feast of the resurrection. However, the Sundays of Lent are still a part of the Lenten liturgical season in the Western Church, and the worship services tend to be more simple and austere than normal. They lack the Gloria, and the joyous “alleluias” of the Easter season. The Western liturgical colour of Lent is violet, symbolizing royalty and penitence. Solemnities like St. Joseph and the Annunciation, take precedence over Lenten observances in the Church calendar. These days, when they fall on Fridays, do away with Lenten abstinence requirements. However, at least in the current Western Church, Lent nearly always trumps the observances of minor feast days. Too many festivals take away from the simple and penitential spirit of the Lenten season. Certain devotions and liturgies have developed during the Lenten season, including (in the West), the Stations of the Cross.