Newsletter- 1st Week of Lent
Dear Parishioners
Last week on Ash Wednesday we began our Lenten journey together. During these 40 days we are remembering the 40 days that Jesus spent in the desert, the temptations he experienced there and his time of prayer and fasting. Lent is a time for each of us to become more deeply aware of our faith and a time to deepen that faith by practical actions. We try to choose ways once again to help us to walk more fully in the footsteps of Christ as we seek to recommit ourselves to living as He lived and as we seek to love God and our brothers and sisters more deeply. We do this through the three ancient remedies of Fasting, Almsgiving and Penance.
On this First Sunday of Lent let us ask for God’s grace to help us in our Lenten disciplines, in our Christian discipleship and in our Christian witness in the world in which we live. Let us pray that our faith may be strengthened during this penitential season and that our Lenten resolutions may remain clear and firm. I pray that each of us may experience during Lent this year a real awakening to the Love that is God and the place of God in our lives, and that as a community of faith we may follow together our Lord Jesus Christ more fully day by day and come to know him more completely as our brother and our friend.
Lent Information 2025
Walk with Me Prayer Booklets (Lent 2025): This year’s lent edition is a special Jubilee edition available for you to take home and to use each day during Lent. Copies are available in church to purchase priced at just £1 a copy. Lent ushers in a springtime of renewal in the Church and in the natural world around us. As Christs modern day disciples, during this Jubilee Year, Walk With Me offers us in a handy pocket-sized prayer book help to prepare more fully for the coming of Easter and the joy of the Resurrection as we open our hearts to Christ and deepen our personal encounter with him.
Lent 2025:
Stations of the Cross – Most Fridays at 7 pm during Lent. N.B. (6 pm Friday 28th March (First Holy Communion candidates and catechists lead the devotion tonight) and 6 pm on Wednesday in Holy Week (16th April) and 6 pm on Good Friday (18th April).
Extra times of Confession on a Friday (Directly after Stations of the Cross) N.B. (No confessions 28th March nor 18th April).
Pilot Small Lent Prayer Group – Link Room at 6 pm – (This year only by invitation) It is my hope if this year’s pilot prayer group is successful during Lent, that next year, we shall be able to offer two lay led prayer groups for the whole parish community to enjoy (one group meeting during the day and one in the early evening both for a maximum of 10 people per group).
Important Lent Diary Date: The Bishop’s Jubilee Year Deanery Station Mass, at The Immaculate Conception and St Norbert’s church, Spalding, Tuesday 1st April, at 7 p.m.
All parishioners are warmly encouraged to attend. No Mass in St Marys Grantham that day.
The Immaculate Conception and St Norbert’s church, Spalding was designated as our deanery Jubilee church. Our deanery is hosting him at a Station Mass this coming Lent. Bishop Patrick will preside and preach at Mass that evening and all members of the deanery clergy, and their parishioners are strongly encouraged by the Bishop to attend and to join in the Mass there together. I do hope as many parishioners as possible from St Mary’s will be able to this special evening with the Bishop on Tuesday 1st April.
Programme for the Evening
Adoration – from 6 pm – 6.45 pm
Confessions – from 6 pm – 6.45 p.m.
Station Mass – 7 p.m. – Principal Celebrant and Preacher – Bishop Patrick, concelebrants (priests of the deanery), deacons of the deanery (assisting at the altar).
Refreshments – There will be a chance to meet with Bishop Patrick informally and members of the deanery clergy and other parishioners of the deanery over fellowship and light refreshments in the parish hall, immediately after Mass.
Parishioners attending the evening in Spalding can receive The Jubilee Year Indulgence *(Please see information regarding criteria in this week’s Bulletin).
CAFOD Lent Appeal – Family Fast Day collection – Friday, March 14th: This Jubilee Year, our Holy Father Pope Francis has called upon each of us to be Pilgrims of Hope. This is CAFOD’s mission – to bring love for our neighbours to people suffering the impacts of war, global debt and climate change and to give them the support, skills and tools they need to find new hope for the future. This year Family Fast Day takes place on Friday 14th March, the day designated by the Church for special prayer for the needy and hungry of the world. This Lent by praying, eating simply and giving to CAFOD we will be helping to support CAFOD in their important and vital work helping local experts on the ground to provide simple, effective solutions to the toughest problems facing many of the poorest peoples around the world. You can collect a CAFOD envelope as you leave church to make a Lent offering and return your envelopes in the weekly collection plate throughout Lent. All donations received will be forwarded to CAFOD after Easter.
Prayers for Pope Francis: Let us continue to keep our Holy Father in prayer each day that he may be given strength and courage during his time of sickness and know the comfort and loving mercy of Christ to help him to face with courage the future.
With my prayers for you and for your families during Lent,
Your parish priest and friend,
Fr Jonathan
2025 9th March – Newsletter – Download