ASH WEDNESDAY LENTEN MESSAGE: From Msgr. Gerard Kalumba

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1 Since October 30, Christ the KING Parish Kampala UG PARISH PRIEST Msgr. Gerard Kalumba ASSISTING PRIESTS Msgr. Joseph Mugambe Rev. Fr. John Bosco Ssembatya Rev. Fr. Arthur Richard Muwonge LEAD CATECHIST Evaristo Mary Baguma CHAIRPERSON LAITY Rogers Semakula SECRETARY LAITY John Baptist Ssemitego PARISH EXEC. SECRETARY Mrs. Euphemia Kiwuwa SUNDAY MASSES 07.00am: Luganda 08.00am: English 09.00am: Luganda 10.00am: English 11.15am: English 05.00pm: English (Charismatic) SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION Monday - Friday 7:45am (after 7.00am Mass) 12:15pm (before 1:00pm Mass) 1:45pm (after 1:00pm Mass) Saturday 7:45am (after 7.00am Mass) Christ, indeed, always associates the Church with Himself in this great work in which God is perfectly glorified and men are sanctified. The Church is His beloved Bride who calls to her LORD and through Him offers worship to the eternal Father. --- Sacrosanctum concilium ASH WEDNESDAY 2017 LENTEN MESSAGE: From Msgr. Gerard Kalumba Wednesday, 01 st March 2017 Once again, the beautiful season of Lent is with us. It is beautiful because it assists us to discover our inner self. Lent gives us courage to look into ourselves to appreciate our goodness and ugliness and transform our lives accordingly. Turn back to the LORD with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping and with mourning; and tear your hearts and not your garments. The beauty is not with the out-ward appearance but the inner disposition that affects the decisions we make. Fasting, almsgiving and prayer are the traditional methods we employ to clean up our motives and eventually our decisions. We beg you on behalf of CHRIST, BE RECONCILED TO GOD. Let the focus be on God and God the Father who sees in secret will reward you. Our motive should not be to entertain and amuse people but that the Father who sees in secret is the one to observe and reward us. DAILY MASSES: Monday to Friday: 6:30am 7:00am 1:00pm; Saturday: 7:00am 6:00pm

2 FIRST READING Joel 2:12-18; Tear your hearts and not your garments. A reading from the book of the prophet Joel Even now, says the LORD, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and tear your hearts and not your garments. Return to the LORD, your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy, and repents of evil. Who knows whether he will not turn and repent, and leave a blessing behind him, a cereal offering and a drink offering for the LORD, your God? Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Sanctify the congregation; RRESPONSORIAL PSALM: Ps. 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 12-13, 14 & 17; R. Have mercy, O LORD, for we have sinned. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your merciful love; according to your great compassion, blot out my transgressions. Wash me completely from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. R. My transgressions, truly I know them; my sin is always before me. Against you, you alone, have I sinned; what is evil in your sight, I have done. R. assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber. Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep and say, Spare your people, O LORD, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, where is their God? Then the LORD became jealous for His land, and had pity on His people. The Word of the LORD Create a pure heart for me, O God; renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence; take not your Holy Spirit from me. R. Restore in me the joy of your salvation; sustain in me a willing spirit. O LORD, open my lips and my mouth shall proclaim your praise. R. 2 Remember, Rejoice, Renew

3 SECOND READING 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2; Be reconciled to God. Behold, now is the acceptance time A reading from the Second Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians Brethren: We are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake He made Him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. Working together with Him, then, we entreat you not to accept the Grace of God in vain. For He says, At the acceptable time I have listened to you, and helped you on the day of salvation. Behold, now is the acceptance time; behold, now is the day of salvation. The Word of the LORD VERSE BEFORE THE GOSPEL V. Glory and praise to you, O Christ. R. Glory and praise to you, O Christ. V. Today, harden not your heart, but listen to the voice of the LORD. R. Glory and praise to you, O Christ. GOSPEL: Matthew 6:1-6 & 16-18; Your Father who sees in secret will reward you A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew At that time: Jesus said to His disciples, Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them; for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in Heaven. Thus, when you give alms, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. The Gospel of the LORD. Remember, Rejoice, Renew 3

4 THE PARISH PRIEST S REFLECTION Joel 2: Cor. 5: 20-6:2 Matt 6: OUR BATTLE AGAINST SPIRITUAL EVILS ARMED WITH WEAPONS OF SELF-RESTRAINT Ash Wednesday is Msgr. Gerard Kalumba the opening to our Lenten Season. Lenten Season is a battle against Spiritual evils and our weapons in this battle are SELF RESTRAINT, so that we open up to God as He overlooks our sins. The First Reading of Ash Wednesday from the Prophet Joel outlines our weapons in this battle against spiritual evils in this sentence: Return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and tear your hearts and not your garments. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber. The Gospel of this day supplements the above weapons, in the battle against spiritual evils, with these traditional practices: Giving alms, Praying and Fasting. Matthew explains the effective use of these weapons in the following manner: That these weapons must not be used as a public display or a show to attract public attention in order to impress people. When the weapons are aimed at the public they miss the target which is Winning God s Mercy and the Lord s reward. It is the Father who sees in secret that should be the target of the consequences of our weapons of the battle. When you give alms, when you pray and when you fast do not go out for human beings but rather for the Father who is in secret and your Father in secret will reward you. The Father is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in mercy and repents of evil. This is the aim of our Lenten Season and not a display for public consumption. We are seeking reconciliation with God who made Christ who has no sin to be SIN (2 Corinthian 5:20f) so that in Christ we might become the Righteousness of God. Behold now is the acceptable time; behold now is the day of Salvation. LORD help us to turn away from harmful pleasures and cleanse our sins so that we may celebrate devoutly the suffering, death and resurrection of your SON. Msgr. Gerard Kalumba Christ the King Parish Kampala 4 Remember, Rejoice, Renew

5 CROSSWORD PUZZLE: FAST, PRAY & ALMSGIVING... WORDSEARCH LENT Here we are with yet another Puzzle to enrich your soul and spirit Remember, Rejoice, Renew 5

6 Editorial: Ash Wednesday, a day of fasting, is the first day of Lent. It occurs 46 days (40 fasting days, if the 6 Sundays, which are not days of fast, are excluded) before Easter and can fall as early as 4 February or as late as 10 March. Ash Wednesday is observed by many Christians and especially the Catholic Church. According to the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus Christ spent 40 days fasting in the desert, where he endured temptation by Satan. Lent originated as a mirroring of this, fasting 40 days as preparation for Easter. Every Sunday was seen as a commemoration of the Sunday of Christ s resurrection and so as a feast day on which fasting was inappropriate. Accordingly, Christians fasted from Monday to Saturday (6 days) during 6 weeks and from Wednesday to Saturday (4 days) in the preceding week, thus making up the number of 40 days. Ash Wednesday derives its name from the practice of blessing ashes made from palm branches blessed on the previous year s Palm Sunday, and placing them on the heads of participants to the accompaniment of certain words. Observances: Ashes are ceremonially placed on the heads of Christians on Ash 6 Remember, Rejoice, Renew Wednesday, either by being sprinkled over their heads or, more often, by being marked on their foreheads as a visible cross. The words used traditionally to accompany this gesture are: Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. (Based on Genesis 3:19). In the 1969 revision of the Roman Rite, an alternative formula was introduced and given first place: Repent, and believe in the Gospel. (Mark 1:15). The old formula, based on the words spoken to Adam and Eve after their sin, reminds worshippers of their sinfulness and mortality and thus, implicitly, of their need to repent in time. The newer formula makes explicit what was only implicit in the old. On Ash Wednesday, the Pope, the Bishop of Rome, traditionally takes part in a penitential procession from the Church of Saint Anselm to the Basilica of Santa Sabina, where, in accordance with the custom in Italy and many other countries, ashes are sprinkled on his head, not smudged on his forehead, and he places ashes on the heads of others in the same way. In addition, those who attend Catholic services, whether in a church or

7 elsewhere, traditionally take blessed ashes home with them to place on the heads of other members of the family, and it is recommended to have envelopes available to facilitate this practice. At home the ashes are then placed with little or no ceremony. The Catholic Church does not limit distribution of blessed ashes to within church buildings and has suggested the holding of celebrations in shopping centres, nursing homes, schools and factories. Such celebrations presume preparation of an appropriate area and include readings from Scripture (at least one) and prayers, and are somewhat shorter if the ashes are already blessed. In the medieval period, the day before Ash Wednesday was the required annual day of confessing one s sins and receiving absolution and instructions on the penances to be performed during Lent, the reason it was called Shrove Tuesday. Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) was also the last day of the Carnival season, which continues until Saturday in areas where the Ambrosian Rite, with its later Lent, is observed. Communication Office Fast and abstinence: In the Latin Catholic Church, Ash Wednesday is observed by fasting, abstinence from meat, and repentance a day of contemplating one s transgressions. On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, Latin Catholics between the ages of 18 and 59 (whose health enables them to do so) are permitted to consume only one full meal, which may be supplemented by two smaller meals, which together should not equal the full meal. Some Catholics will go beyond the minimum obligations demanded by the Church and undertake a complete fast or a bread and water fast. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are also days of abstinence from meat (mammals and fowl), as are all Fridays during Lent. Some Catholics continue fasting throughout Lent, as is the Church s traditional requirement, concluding only after the celebration of the Easter Vigil. Remember, Rejoice, Renew 7

8 WEEKDAY SAINTS & READINGS OF THE WEEK READINGS Celebrations to be planned and organised: CHRISTIAN INITIATION OF ADULTS (Election and Scrutinies) LENTEN CAMPAIGN PENITENTIAL CELEBRATIONS STATIONS OF THE CROSS Wednesday 01st March 2017 ASH WEDNESDAY: First reading: Joel 2:12-18; Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 51:3-6, 12-14, 17; Second reading: 2 Corinthians 5: :2; Matthew 6:1-6, Other Masses are not permitted, except funeral Masses. Thursday 02nd March 2017 Thursday after Ash Wednesday (Mass of Lent): First reading: Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Responsorial Psalm: Ps.1:1-4, 6; Gospel: Luke 9:22-25 Friday 03rd March 2017 Friday after Ash Wednesday (Mass of Lent): First reading: Isaiah 58:1-9a; Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 51:3-6, 18-19; Gospel: Matthew 9: Saturday 04th March 2017 Saturday after Ash Wednesday (Mass of Lent): First reading: Isaiah 58:9-14; Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 86:1-6; Gospel: Luke 5: The memorial of St. Casimir may be Celebrated as a Commemoration Vigil Mass of the First Sunday of Lent Year A Sunday 05th March 2017 FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT YEAR A: First reading: Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7; Responsorial Psalms: Ps 51:3-6, 12-14, 17; Second reading: Romans 5:12-19 (or 5:12, 17-19); Gospel: Matthew 4:1-11. Other Masses are not permitted, not even funeral Masses. RENOVATION AND EXTENSION IN STEADY PROGRESS! THE RENOVATION OF OUR CHURCH We are entering our Lenten Season at a time when the renovation of our Church is progressing very fast. May some of our Lenten Sacrifices be directed towards this important project to ensure this, our place of Worship is Renewed and expanded for the comfort of all worshippers. Thank you so much for your generous support. What you have done is a surprise to all of us. Keep up the Spirit and we shall soon overcome. Tuzimbe We Build CTK!! CHOIR S ANNOUNCEMENT St. Joseph s Choir, The Choir that Sings During the 8.00am Mass On Sundays Would Like to Invite New and Interested Members to Join The Choir. Contact Their Director Mr. Kivumbi Edward On: Choir Practice Days Are; Tuesdays & Fridays at 5.30pm and Sundays at 9.15am. Christ the King Parish, Kampala Tel: Plot 3 Colville Street, P. O. Box 2551, Kampala - Uganda info@christthekingkampala.org