Mass Schedule – Septuagesima (Feb. 12, 2017)
13, Feria
14, St. Valentine, Martyr
15, Martyrs of Japan
16, Feria
17, Feria
18, Feria
+ Wednesday Agape & Christian Education for all ages is into the pre-Lenten term and will meet next Wednesday, February 22, 2017. We will begin serving the meal at 5:45 and after a time fellowship and classes for all age groups. All blessings!
+ Around this time of year, many persons ask: “Who was St. Valentine, and what does he have to do with sending romantic cards and flowers?” St. Valentine is a martyr from before 312, commemorated on the 14th of February. He was likely martyred on that date, but nothing else is known of him. There was a priest in Rome named Valentine, as well as a bishop in Ternia and both have traditionally been commemorated on 14 February. They are now generally assumed to be the same person. In many parts of Europe, it was once said that birds began to pair off for the nesting season in mid-February. Since our forebears often spoke of a given day by naming a saint connected with it rather than by giving the month and the number of the day, we find them saying that birds choose their mates on St. Valentine’s day. There are several stories making the rounds that try to explain the connection between valentine cards and flowers and Valentine but they all sound to me like they have been made up by some overly romantic Victorian low-church clergyman lecturing to children.
+ Ash Wednesday is March 1 this year & only a little more than two weeks away. It is one of the most popular and important holy days in the liturgical calendar. Ash Wednesday opens Lent, a season of fasting and prayer. Ash Wednesday takes place 46 days before Easter Sunday, and is mostly observed by Catholics, although many other Christians observe it too. Ash Wednesday comes from the ancient Jewish tradition of penance and fasting. The practice includes the wearing of ashes on the head. The ashes symbolize the dust from which God made us, as well as being a token of grief, in this case, grief for our sins that separate us from God. As the priest applies the ashes to a person’s forehead, he speaks the words: “Remember oh man that thou are dust, and unto dust thou shalt return.” It is important to remember that Ash Wednesday is a day of penitential prayer, fasting & abstinence. Some faithful take the rest of the day off from work and remain home. Small children, the elderly and sick are exempt from this observance.While the ashes symbolize penance and contrition, they are also a reminder that God is gracious and merciful to those who call on Him with repentant hearts.
+ All Saints Men’s Group will meets each Tuesday at 7:00 a.m. in undercroft.
+ Our Monday Morning Bible Study meets each Monday morning at 10:00 a.m. For further information contact Priscilla King at kingplk@gmail.com.
+ The Holy Communion is celebrated Monday through Saturday at 12:15 p.m.
+All Saints parishioner may obtain a Mass card from the Church office. A Mass card is a greeting card given to someone to inform him or her that a deceased loved one or friend was remembered and prayed for at a weekly Mass. It is a specifically Christian way to express one’s love. Call Julie McDermott at the Church office (434-979-2842) and she will help you fill out the form. The celebrant will sign the card and we will mail it from the Church to the family of the loved one.