Wednesdays in Lent

This year our Wednesday program will take on a slightly different style.  Instead of a class on spirituality or faith which has been the centerpiece of our Wednesday nights in previous years, we will instead have the opportunity to experience different ways of praying.  Stations of the Cross will be a regular component of each Wednesday, but each week it will have another liturgy that will allow us to experience other types of prayer and devotion from the rich liturgical heritage of our Church.

February 20 - Contemplative Mass followed by Stations of the Cross

A simple liturgy marked by periods of silent prayer as we explore the mystery of God in the Blessed Sacrament.  As Mass conlcudes, we will walk the Stations of the Cross with volunteers reading the Scripture marking 14 significant moments in Jesus' passion and crucifixion.

February 27 - Stations of the Cross & Compline

Stations begins the evening, followed by a brief discussion of the rhythms of prayer and spiritual life.  Then in we move back into the church now illuminated only by candlelight and sing the ancient liturgy of compline in which we hear the refrain, "Guide us waking, O Lord, and guard us sleeping; that awake we may watch with Christ and asleep we may rest in peace."  The liturgy ends with the cantor singing the Salve Regina.

March 6 - Taize Eucharist & Stations of the Cross

The Eucharist will include some of the beautiful chant from Taize and will lead us into Stations at its conclusion.  Taize music is repetitive and easily sung, which makes it especially fitting for our mid-week worship during Lent.  

March 13 - Stations of the Cross & Rosary

Following Stations of the Cross we will have the opportunity to stay in the church and pray the Rosary together, using the Sorrowful Mysteries which highlight five moment's of Jesus' Passion presented in the Gospel:  the agony in the garden; the scourging at the pillar, the crowning of thorns, the carrying of the cross, and the crucifixion.

March 20 - Stations & Benediction

This last regular week in Lent we will return our focus on the mystery of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.   Following Stations of the Cross, we will move back into the pews for a time of Eucharistic adoration and blessing.  This will help us prepare for Holy Week and the Maundy Thursday Mass which will be followed by the all-night Vigil Watch leading us into Good Friday.  The two hymns, "O saving victim" and "Therefore we before Him bending," as well as the periods of silent prayer lead us into a greater depth of understanding of the gift God gives to us in the Sacrament of the Altar.

March 27 - Stations & Compline

 Now in Holy Week, following Palm Sunday (3/24) and the eve before Maundy Thursday (3/28), we return to Stations of the Cross and Sung Compline.  Between those liturgies, however, we will have the opportunity to reflect on the various experiences of Lent and how each of our Wednesday night liturgies and experiences helped us in the journey through Lent and prepared us for the Sacred Triduum (the Sacred Three Days of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter).