Ash Wednesday

09:00am – SMM Primary School & Parish
12:00pm – Parish Mass
07:00pm – Parish Mass
Ashes will be distributed at all Masses.

Ash Wednesday is a day of Fast and Abstinence

Fasting: 1 main meal, 2 light snacks to be observed by those who have completed their eighteenth year, until the beginning of their sixtieth year.

Abstinence: from meat products & sweet treats to be observed by those who have completed their fourteenth year. Why do Catholics have their foreheads marked with a cross on Ash Wednesday? Because in the Bible a mark on the forehead is a symbol of a person’s ownership. By having their foreheads marked with the Sign of a Cross, this symbolizes that the person belongs to Jesus Christ, Who died on a Cross. This is in imitation of the spiritual mark or seal that is put on a Christian in baptism, when he is delivered from slavery to sin and the devil, and made a servant of righteousness and Christ.