Dear Brothers and Sisters, This Ash Wednesday we begin a wonderful season of grace that invites us to a confident trust in God’s mercy, a trust that surpasses the doubt and confusion caused by our sins. As we look honestly at our weaknesses this Lent, we join with St. Paul in saying “I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (2 Cor. 12:9) The self-reflection of Lent helps us to see our faults and failings, but at the same time provides us with hope that in Christ all things are possible. So we are not discouraged in this season, but filled with hope as the Lord promises us the opportunity to grow in our love of Him and those He has put into our life. This year we again enter into the ancient Christian practice of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Please take advantage of the many opportunities described here to make the most of this season of grace!

PRAYER Daily Mass

"If we but paused for a moment to consider attentively what takes place in this Sacrament, I am sure that the thought of Christ's love for us would transform the coldness of our hearts into a fire of love and gratitude."-St. Angela. Join us for daily Mass Monday through Saturday at 8:15am and Thursdays at 9:30am for our weekly school Mass. The Mass readings are specially chosen to help draw us more deeply into Lent. Please join us!

The Little Black Book Six-minute Daily Meditations on the Sunday Gospels of Lent

The Little Black Book has been carefully crafted to help you enter into God’s Word and deepen your relationship with Christ. With a simple plan that guides you through the Sunday Gospel readings for Lent, this is a wonderful way to learn how to pray. Spend 6 minutes each day meditating on God’s Word and witness how your relationship with Christ comes to life this Lent.

Sacrament of ReconciliationGod loves you and wants to forgive you! This Lent receive His mercy and forgiveness and experience the joy of being set free from sin. See the last page for the many opportunities we have to ce lebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation this Lent on Wednesdays, Saturdays and at our Lenten Penance Service. Please see our website for helpful guides to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Come and meet Christ in the Sacrament of His Mercy!

Eucharistic AdorationAt Mass the bread and wine truly become the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We eat His Body and Blood at Mass but we also honor His presence in prayer and adoration. This form of prayer, called Eucharistic Adoration, takes place every Friday morning after Mass and continues until Saturday morning Mass. Come and spend some quiet time in the presence of the Lord – it is a great time of peace, healing and spiritual refreshment. What do you do and how do you pray while in the presence of the Lord? One great practice is to make a holy hour (or half hour). See this helpful page on our website to

O U R L A D Y O F P E R P E T U A L H E L P C H U R C H E L L I C O T T C I T Y , M A R Y L A N D

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LENTMERCY HEALING FREEDOM STRENGTH

S A L V A T I O N

learn more about the holy hour and how to spend t i m e i n E u c h a r i s t i c a d o r a t i o n : www.olphparish.org/holyhour.

Fridays – A Special Day of Prayer and Penance

Lenten Soup Suppers Join us every Friday evening of Lent from 6:00-6:50pm as our parish family gathers in the Parish Center to share in a Lenten Soup Supper. This is a great chance to join with other families and spend time together over a simple meal. No RSVP is needed, just show up!

Stations of the Cross Join us every Friday of Lent at 2:30pm and 7:00pm in the Church as we pray the Stations of the Cross. Early in the life of the Church it became common for pilgrims to walk in the footsteps of Jesus to Calvary, remembering His passion and death. When it became too dangerous for pilgrims to travel to the Holy Land, the Stations of the Cross became a substitute. T h e S t a t i o n s , d r a w n f r o m S c r i p t u r e , commemorate Jesus' journey to Calvary where he died. Originally prayed outdoors, the Stations of the Cross gradually moved inside churches. Eventually fixed at the number fourteen, the Stations soon became a familiar feature in all Catholic churches.

OLPH Lenten RetreatRules for the Discernment of Spirits

All of us experience very normal ups and downs in the spiritual life: There are days when prayer comes easy, when we have energy to love God and others, when we desire to be in the Lord’s presence. But there are also days when the bottom seems to drop out on this - we lack any desire to pray, there is no motivation to love a spouse or neighbor. Imagine being able to understand these ups and downs, to make sense of them and know how God is at work, as well as how the enemy is at work. Join Fr. Arnold for this year’s Lenten Retreat as we begin to explore St. Ignatius’ Rules for the Discernment of Spirits. These concise rules are a spiritual playbook that reveal to us how God works and how the enemy works, helping us to understand the many movements of the human heart which we often

find so puzzling. Join us each Friday of Lent in the church, immediately following the Stations of the Cross, as we explore the Discernment of Spirits.

"Journey to Calvary: Lenten Musical Reflections"

For centuries, composers from many faith traditions have been inspired by the beauty and emotion of Lenten hymns. On Sunday, March 27, following the 11am Mass, join us for a brief recital of organ music for Lent, as part of the Music Ministry's "Sunday Serenades" recital series. Music by Bach, Brahms, and others will be played.

The OLPH Choirs are looking for additional singers for Holy Week!

If you have wanted to get involved with Music Ministry but are not able to make a yearlong commitment, please consider joining the Traditional Choir or the Sunday Morning

Contemporary Ensemble to participate in one or more of the Holy Week liturgies. Being a seasonal choir member is a wonderful Lenten commitment, and a way to enter more deeply into the celebration of Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil. Rehearsals will begin in mid-March. For more information, please contact Dana La Rosa, Director of Music, at 410-747-0131 or dlarosa@archbalt.org.

2011 Youth Pilgrimage with Archbishop O’Brien

Saturday, April 16, 2011High School Youth: For the past seventeen years, over 1,000 youth a n d y o u n g a d u l t s h a v e commemorated Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem at the beginning of Holy Week by walking in the Archdiocesan Youth and Young Adult Pilgrimage. Carrying palms and a cross, young pilgrims have walked through the Inner Harbor and visited the Basilica of the Assumption. The young church will again bear witness to their love of Jesus Christ, pray, and celebrate at the Youth and Young Adult Pilgrimage with Archbishop O’Brien to be held on Saturday, April 16. Please see the narthex for more info!

FASTINGLenten Norms for

Fasting and AbstinenceCatholics, age 14 and over, are to abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and all Fridays during the season of Lent. Adult Catholics, ages 18 through 59, are to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Fasting is observed by eating only one full meal and two lighter meals that day and by refraining from eating between meals. Individuals who are pregnant, nursing, or ill are excused from these norms.

Fasting is the voluntary giving up of food, drink, and other material things that expresses our desire to bring a healthy balance back to our relationship with God, ourselves, and others. Poor choices in daily life can lead us to become enslaved to certain material things such as food, drink, television, etc. In fasting, we admit that we are not as free as we would like to be. In fasting, we exercise the gift of our free will to say ‘no’ to certain things (which are not necessarily bad in themselves) in order to allow us to say ‘yes’ to the Lord and to others.

There are a number of benefits to fasting: Fasting awakens the heart to the intimate presence of God in one's soul. Fasting encourages more serious reflection about the priorities in our lives. Fasting strengthens our sense of dependence upon God. Fasting sharpens our sensitivity to the spiritual dimension of life. Fasting strengthens our ability to say ‘yes’ to God and ‘no’ to sin. Fasting develops greater appreciation for the gifts of God, especially food and drink. Fasting purifies us, spiritually as well as physically.

Ways to fast:The season of Lent already comes with some “built-in” fasting: Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of fasting and abstinence while each Friday of Lent we abstain from eating meat. Remember, though, that meatless Fridays don’t mean we choose lobster instead. Meatless meals on the Fridays of Lent should be simple, sacrificial, and lead us to reach out in generosity to those who are less fortunate through some act of charity.

The classic form of fasting involves giving up of food or drink. As children we may have given up

candy during Lent – this classic approach can be as valuable for adults as for children. Any time we exercise our free will in a deliberate way over and above our desires we gain control over our lives – the same control that is needed to say “yes” to God and “no” to sin.

We can also fast from an entire meal – lunch on the Fridays of Lent for example. The money normally spent on that meal could be placed in the Poor Box at church.

We can also fast from television, music, or the Internet. While not always bad in themselves, these forms of entertainment can so fill our lives that we have trouble hearing God. In place of television or the computer, we can spend time with those we love or in quiet prayer with God (reading from one of the Gospels, looking at the Sunday Mass readings, etc.) or in service to others.

Remembering that fasting is a form of penance and self-denial, there are many other ways that we can show God our sorrow for our sins: being generous with others, visiting the sick and lonely, feeding the poor, studying Scripture, praying the Stations of the Cross or the Rosary, practicing self-control, and many others.

A Special Call to Prayer and Fasting for an End to Abortion

This Lent Catholics in the Archdiocese are being offered the opportunity to join in a nationwide, ecumenical prayer event to end abortion. 40 Days for Life is a peaceful, Christ-like prayer vigil. Vigil keepers emulate St. John and the Blessed Mother standing at the foot of the Cross at Calvary, when Jesus, the Innocent One, was put to death. Archbishop O’Brien is challenging parishioners to commit to pray for at least one hour per week outside an abortion clinic if possible. For those who cannot do that, he is asking us to pray and fast in solidarity with this effort. The prayer should be for parents who are tempted to abort their children, for those who carry the pain of a past abortion, and for misguided workers in abortion clinics. Since this became a nationwide effort in 2007, nine abortion clinics have closed (1 of them here in Maryland), 43 abortion workers have walked away from the abortion industry, and at least 3,599 children (and their mothers) have been spared the violence of abortion. For more information on how you can participate please visit our parish website.

ALMSGIVINGAlmsgiving is not only an offering of money to those in need but an attitude of generosity and a willingness to share in the burdens of others. Almsgiving is closely tied to fasting – whatever we save (money or time) should be offered to the needy. Here are a few concrete ways to give alms this Lent:

Lenten Poor Box Collections Help support those in need by contributing to our Poor Box during Lent. The parish receives numerous requests each week for help. Please support the work of our St. Vincent de Paul Society in meeting their needs through your generosity this Lent.

Take the Water Challenge for our Partner Parish in Haiti!

More than half the deaths in Haiti are from water-born illnesses-- diseases prevented by access to clean drinking water. Join us this Lent in taking the H2O challenge! For two weeks (or however long you choose), make water your only beverage. Contribute the money you would have spent on soda, coffee, etc to help our sister parish, Our Lady of the Nativity in Verrettes, Haiti. There will be places in the back of church to place your contribution throughout Lent.

Casseroles for Our Daily BreadCatholic Charities Our Daily Bread is Maryland’s hot meal program, serving more than a quarter million meals to the hungry of Baltimore City each year. Their

needs are even greater now than ever – please help our parish respond to this need by preparing a casserole and returning it to the parish kitchen freezer. Our parish is committed to providing casseroles on the first Monday of each month. Casserole pans and recipes can be picked up inside the church anytime and may be returned on the Sunday before the first Monday of each month.

Encouraging Our Little Ones to Thank God!

Our Pre-K and Elementary Religious Education students will be "Thanking God" for their many gifts by sharing some of what they have with the children of Haiti. Each child will receive six offering envelopes, marked with "My Gift for The Children of Haiti", which the Elementary

students will put in the collection basket when they attend Mass. The Pre-K children can offer their gifts by placing their envelopes in a box in the lobby of the school during the weeks that they have class.

Our OLPH School Students are Helping Africa!

The focus of our OLPH School outreach project for Lent is the work of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in Africa, particularly their efforts to provide continuous, reliable electrical power and clean water to the communities they serve. Lives are being changed as disease and persistent health care problems, caused by lack of potable water, are avoided. Our students will be praying, fasting, and collecting money to send to the sisters. Please see the school website for more information www.olphschool.org

2011 Archbishop’s Annual AppealOur parish has a proud history of great generosity with the Archbishop’s Annual Appeal. This year we continue taking our parish rebate and offering it back to those whose needs are greater than ours. Forty-two and half percent of our rebate will support the feeding program and teachers salaries at our sister parish in Haiti, Our Lady of the Nativity. Another 42.5% will be given to our sister parish here in Baltimore, St. Veronica’s in Cherry Hill, where it will be used to help pay the salary of their youth minister. Finally, we will be offering 15% of our rebate to the work of Catholic evangelization done in our own community by ChristLife, a Catholic ministry of evangelization based here in Baltimore. In these ways we can provide for both the physical and spiritual needs of our brothers and sisters.

“Find out how much God has given you and from it take what you need; the remainder is needed by others.”

Saint Augustine

Holy ThursdayOn this evening we remember what Jesus did with his disciples the night before he died: He gave them the new commandment of love (“Love one another as I have loved you.” John 13:34), symbolized in his washing of the disciples feet, he instituted the Eucharist (“Do this in memory of me.” Luke 22:19) and prayed for strength in the garden of Gethsemane (“Let your will be done, not mine.” Luke 22:42). The Church celebrates these same events, washing the feet of parishioners, celebrating the Eucharist and then ending the evening in prayerful vigil before Jesus present in the Blessed Sacrament.

Good FridayToday is one of the most solemn days in the Church’s year when we recall

the death of Jesus on the cross. This is the one day of the year the Church does not celebrate the Mass. Instead, the ritual is in three parts: the Liturgy of the Word (when we read the account of his passion and death), veneration of the cross, and

Communion (consecrated on Holy Thursday evening). This service does not stand alone; it is a continuation of what began on Holy Thursday. The veneration of the cross is a practice unique to Good Friday. It is our opportunity to humble ourselves before the awesome saving action of Christ.

Easter VigilThis is the holiest night of the Church’s year as we recall Christ’s Resurrection from the dead. Beginning in darkness with the light of candles, we enter into the celebration of his resurrection singing the Gloria and Alleluia for the first time

since the beginning of Lent. It is on this night that we welcome men and women into the new life of Christ and his Church by celebrating the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist for those becoming Catholic.

The Rite of Sending and the Scrutinies Special Prayers for Those Becoming Catholic

Throughout Lent the Church offers special prayers for those preparing to become Catholic at the Easter Vigil. On Sunday, March 13 at the 11:00am Mass we will celebrate the Rite of Sending, a special prayer which send the RCIA candidates out to the Cathedral where the Bishop formally “elects” (chooses) them to enter into the life of the Church at Easter. This is followed by the Scrutinies on the last three Sundays of Lent when the Church offers special prayers asking God to deliver them from the power of sin, to protect them against temptation and give them new strength in Christ. Each of these prayers is based on who Christ revealed himself to be: the Living Water, the Light of the World, and the Resurrection and the Life. Please join for these special prayers on March 27 at the 9:00am Mass, April 3 at the 11:00am Mass and April 9 at 4:30pm Mass.

The Sacred Triduum (Latin for “three days”) is the 72 hour period at the end of Holy Week marking the Passion, Death, burial and Resurrection of Jesus. The three days are counted as the Hebrews counted their days, from dusk to dusk. Therefore, the three days of the Easter Triduum are from dusk on Holy Thursday to dusk on Good Friday (day one), dusk on Good Fr iday to dusk on Holy Saturday (day two), and dusk on Holy Saturday to dusk on Easter Sunday (day three). Each of those days celebrates and commemorates the final days of Jesus as he offered himself for our salvation. We look at the Easter Triduum as one single celebration that lasts for three days. We cannot separate the death of Jesus from his resurrection. Please join us for these special celebrations!

Lent and Easter 2011ASH WEDNESDAY – March 9

Mass with the blessing and distribution of ashes at 6:30am, 9:30am, 5:00pm and 7:00pm

WEEKDAY MASS – Area Parishes8:15am Mon. - Sat. and 9:30am Thursday at OLPH7:00am Monday-Friday ~ St. Augustine, Elkridge8:00am Tuesday-Friday ~ St. Paul, Ellicott City

6:30am Mon-Wed, Fri and 9:00am Monday – Friday ~ Resurrection, Ellicott City

FRIDAYS DURING LENT2:30pm Stations of the Cross (with school children) Note: On Friday, April 15 the school

will present the Living Stations beginning at 2:00pm!6:00pm Lenten Soup Suppers in the Parish Center

7:00pm Stations of the Cross7:30pm - Evening Retreat The Discernment of Spirits

SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATIONSaturday afternoons at OLPH: 3:00pm – 4:15pm

Wednesday Nights at St. Paul’s: March 16, 23, 30, April 6 and 13 from 7:00-8:00pm Monday, March 28, 7:00pm – Ellicott City Lenten Penance Service hosted at OLPH

PALM SUNDAY – April 17Palms will be blessed and distributed at all of the regularly scheduled weekend Masses

HOLY THURSDAY – April 21(No morning Masses)

8:15am – Morning Prayer7:00pm – Mass of the Lord's Supper,

followed by quiet prayer before the Blessed Sacrament until Midnight

GOOD FRIDAY – April 228:15am – Morning Prayer

3:00pm – Liturgy of the Lord's Passion, including Veneration of the Cross and Holy Communion

HOLY SATURDAY – April 23(No 8:15am or 4:30 pm Masses)

8:15am – Morning Prayer 1:30pm – Blessing of Easter Foods in the Church

THE EASTER VIGIL – April 238:30pm – Easter Vigil Mass

EASTER SUNDAY – April 24Masses at 7:30am, 9:00am Church and Parish Center, 11:00am Church and Parish Center

(Note: There is no 5:00pm Mass on Easter Sunday!)