Category Archives: e-Formation

These very special rites are celebrated on the middle three Sundays of Lent, at liturgies where the Elect are present. The Elect are those in our midst who are preparing for Baptism. Part of their journey to the font is that they have been received among us, the Rite of Acceptance, and they have been…

RITE OF SENDING The rite of sending is a parish celebration that sends catechumens to the Rite of Election.  At the Rite of Election, on the First Sunday of Lent, the church names the catechumens to be baptized at Easter. The church must verify the readiness of the catechumens.  We do not baptize based only…

The liturgical use of ashes originates in Old Testament times. Ashes symbolized mourning, mortality and penance. For instance, in the Book of Esther, Mordecai put on sackcloth and ashes when he heard of the decree of King Ahasuerus (or Xerxes, 485-464 B.C.) of Persia to kill all of the Jewish people in the Persian Empire…

The story of Lourdes is well known. Between February 11 and July 16, 1858, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared eighteen times to fourteen-year-old Bernadette Soubirous in that small town located in the foothills of the Pyrenee mountains of southern France. Her attention was drawn to the noise of rustling bushes near the Grotto of Massabielle,…