Old Calendar: Ash Wednesday
The time has now come in the Church year for the solemn observance of the great central act of history, the redemption of the human race by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In the Roman Rite, the beginning of the forty days of penance is marked with the austere symbol of ashes which is used in today's liturgy. The use of ashes is a survival from an ancient rite according to which converted sinners submitted themselves to canonical penance. The Alleluia and the Gloria are suppressed until Easter.
Abstinence from eating meat is to be observed on all Fridays during Lent. This applies to all persons 14 and older. The law of fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday applies to all Catholics from age 18 through age 59.
The feast of St. Scholastica, which is ordinarily celebrated today, is superseded by the Ash Wednesday liturgy.
Ash Wednesday At the beginning of Lent, on Ash Wednesday, ashes are blessed during Mass, after the homily. The blessed ashes are then "imposed" on the faithful as a sign of conversion, penance, fasting and human mortality. The ashes are blessed at least during the first Mass of the day, but they may also be imposed during all the Masses of the day, after the homily, and even outside the time of Mass to meet the needs of the faithful. Priests or deacons normally impart this sacramental, but instituted acolytes, other extraordinary ministers or designated lay people may be delegated to impart ashes, if the bishop judges that this is necessary. The ashes are made from the palms used at the previous Passion Sunday ceremonies.
â Ceremonies of the Liturgical Year, Msgr. Peter J. Elliott
The act of putting on ashes symbolizes fragility and mortality, and the need to be redeemed by the mercy of God. Far from being a merely external act, the Church has retained the use of ashes to symbolize that attitude of internal penance to which all the baptized are called during Lent. â Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy
From the very early times the commemoration of the approach of Christ's passion and death was observed by a period of self-denial. St. Athanasius in the year 339 enjoined upon the people of Alexandria the 40 days' fast he saw practiced in Rome and elsewhere, "to the end that while all the world is fasting, we who are in Egypt should not become a laughing stock as the only people who do not fast but take our pleasure in those days." On Ash Wednesday in the early days, the Pope went barefoot to St. Sabina's in Rome "to begin with holy fasts the exercises of Christian warfare, that as we do battle with the spirits of evil, we may be protected by the help of self-denial."
â Daily Missal of the Mystical Body
Things to Do:
Stational churches are the churches that are appointed for special morning and evening services during Lent, Easter and some other important days. The tradition started in order to strengthen the sense of community within the Church in Rome, as this system meant that the Holy Father would visit each part of the city and celebrate Mass with the congregation.
The first stational church during Lent is St. Sabina at the Aventine. It was built in the 5th century, presumably at the site of the original Titulus Sabinae, a church in the home of Sabina who had been martyred c. 114. The tituli were the first parish churches in Rome. St Dominic lived in the adjacent monastery for a period soon before his death in 1221. Among other residents of the monastery were St Thomas Aquinas.
For more information, see Roman Pilgrimage: The Station Churches, a review of George Weigel's book by Jennifer Gregory Miller, The Pontifical North American College page, the Vatican's Lenten Calendar, and "Station Churches", a Lenten Journey by Fr. Bill.
Ash Wednesday
Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart. (Joel 2:12)
What a sense of urgency! “Turn to me,” God calls. “Turn to me now!” Why so serious? Are we such terrible sinners? Are we in worse shape than we were last Lent? What’s so important about turning back to him that God presses us to do it right away? Only this: he is “gracious and merciful . . . rich in kindness” (Joel 2:13).
Lent often gets a bad reputation. What with all the fasting, repentance, and self-denial, it can seem like one gray day after another for six long weeks. But the main purpose for this season is God’s work of grace, not our acts of humility. More than anything else, Lent is a time of favor from heaven—and that’s especially so during this Holy Year of Mercy!
Lent offers us forty days for God to reveal himself. Forty opportunities for us to draw closer to Jesus. Forty days for the Father to shower us with mercy, love, and healing.
God’s mercy is an urgent matter during Lent. He wants to do wonderful things in our lives, and it’s more likely to happen if we take the time to “return” to him. So make yourself available to God, and let him fill you up. Here are four spiritual resolutions you can make that will help you do just that:
• Spend time each day in personal prayer, praising and thanking God for his love and grace.
• Examine your conscience daily, and repent of any sins that keep you from reflecting God’s presence to others.
• Devote some time each day to reading Scripture and asking the Holy Spirit to speak to your heart.
• Make it a point to participate in the life of the Church through the liturgy and parish involvement.
“Lord, I want to respond to your urgent call! Help me to turn to you this Lent. Jesus, reveal yourself to me and change my heart.”
Psalm 51:3-6, 12-14, 17
2 Corinthians 5:20–6:2
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18