Ash Wednesday - 14 February
14th February 2024
"For 40 days, what is the Church doing? She calls us to fast. Why? To overcome our disordered attachment to physical pleasure. For 40 days, the Church calls us to intensify our giving of alms. Why? To overcome our disordered attachment to possessions, to money, to things. And then finally, for 40 days, the Church calls us to intensify our prayer. Why? To overcome our disordered self-love, our vanity, our pride, and to put into place of that pride the growing gift in the virtue of humility. So these three spiritual disciplines are at the essence of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ." - Dr Brant Pitre
Read or watch Dr Pitre's talk on the biblical roots of Ash Wednesday here: https://catholicproductions.com/.../the-biblical-roots-of...
Sacred Heart Catholic Church Inverell invites everyone to attend Holy Mass today at 7am, followed by Rosary at 8am.
Ash Wednesday Prayer
O God, purify our lips that we may sing Your praise. Saving God, come near to us. Give us new hearts that we may love as Jesus loved and bring healing to those who are fragile and afraid. We ask this through Jesus Christ Your Son. Amen. 
Day of Ashes is a day of repentance. During Mass or Liturgical Rite the priest or minister places ashes on a worshipper’s forehead in the shape of the Cross, thus symbolising this person belongs to Christ. It also represents the person’s grief and mourning for their sins - the same sins Jesus Christ gave his life for when he died on the Cross.
Ash Wednesday is important as it marks the start of the Lenten period leading up to Easter. It is NOT a holy day of obligation.
The ashes symbolise both death and repentance. When the priest or minister applies the Cross of Ashes on your forehead, he says: “Remember that you are dust and unto dust you shall return” or “Repent and believe in the Gospel”.
Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are the only compulsory days of fasting and abstinence from meat.
The law of fasting binds those who have completed their eighteenth year, until the beginning of their sixtieth year (the sick and women who are pregnant or breastfeeding are excused).
The law of abstinence binds all those who have completed their fourteenth year. Abstaining from eating meat is to be particularly observed. Meat is considered to be the flesh and organs of mammals and fowl.
This start to the Lenten Season is a most appropriate time for celebrating the Sacrament of Penance and worthy preparation of the Holy Eucharist. All parishioners are encouraged to become reconciled with God through the sacrament of Confession before rather than during the Easter Triduum.