Life

Irish bishops to mark Lent 2016 on social media

Ash Wednesday marked the first day of Lent. Picture by Mal McCann.
Ash Wednesday marked the first day of Lent. Picture by Mal McCann. Ash Wednesday marked the first day of Lent. Picture by Mal McCann.

The assembly of the Bishops of Ireland is taking to social media to mark Lent.

Lent 2016 will be featured prominently on the Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference's Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.

A Lent page on Facebook will allow people to follow events in dioceses and parishes. It also contains songs, information about Lent and news articles.

On Twitter, people are being encouraged to follow the hashtags #lent2016 #lent16 and #lent.

In addition, an Instagram challenge on the theme of `mercy' will run throughout Lent.

"We are inviting you to share words of mercy every day during Lent on the themes of mercy using quotes from Pope Francis, scripture, other sources or words you want to share yourself.

"Each day after that we are asking you to share text and/or image versions of some words of mercy on both Instagram and Twitter. You can follow us on both of these platforms @CatholicBishops (Twitter) and as Catholic Bishops on Instagram."

In his message for Lent 2016, which began on February 11, Pope Francis asked people to live Lent more intensely as a privileged moment to celebrate and experience God's mercy.

"God's mercy transforms human hearts; it enables us, through the experience of a faithful love, to become merciful in turn," he said.

"In an ever new miracle, divine mercy shines forth in our lives, inspiring each of us to love our neighbour and to devote ourselves to what the Church's tradition calls the spiritual and corporal works of mercy.

"These works remind us that faith finds expression in concrete everyday actions meant to help our neighbours in body and spirit: by feeding, visiting, comforting and instructing them."