It is Ash Wednesday today, so it’s official: Lent has begun. Today we receive the mark of the ashes and the time of penance is now.
Ash Wednesday and the Mass
At Mass today, the ashes are blessed and everyone receives a cross of ashes on their forehead. The ashes represent this season of penance.
They are a reminder that we are dust and that we shall return to dust.
“O God, who desirest not the death of sinners, but rather their repentance, look down most graciously upon the frailty of human nature, and in Thy goodness vouchsafe to bless these ashes which we intend to put upon our heads in token of humility and that we may obtain pardon; that we who know that we are dust, and for the penalty of our guilt must return unto dust, may deserve to obtain of Thy mercy the pardon of all sins, and the rewards promised to penitents. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.”
That is the second prayer for the blessing of the ashes.
The ashes are one of the symbols that even non-Catholics are familiar with.
On Ash Wednesday, everywhere you go, there is always someone with ashes on their forehead.
I know when I was a child and I went to after-school activities, people would often acknowledge the ashen cross with a “Oh, is today Ash Wednesday?” or maybe “It must be Lent now.”
As a child, it often bothered me and I was very self-conscious about the ashes I had. Now I realize that that humiliation is all a part of Lent and that even something as simple as having ashes on our foreheads is one of the many ways that we can be a good example to others.
In addition to receiving the ashes, today is also a day of fast and abstinence. This means that we only have one full meal and that we don’t eat meat.
The ashes and the fast go hand in hand to start us off in this penitential season.
“Let us change our garments for ashes and sackcloth: let us fast and lament before the Lord: for plenteous in mercy is our God to forgive our sins.” Antiphon: Joel II 13 from today’s blessing of the ashes.
Ourselves on Ash Wednesday
We’ve begun all of our planned sacrifices, prayers and reading, and we are putting our list of snacks and meals to good use.
How must we conduct ourselves now that Lent is in motion?
Christ Himself tells us in today’s Gospel.
“At that time Jesus said to HIs disciples: When you fast, be not as hypocrites, sad. For they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast.
“Amen I say to you, they have received their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thy head wash thy face, that thou appear not to fast, but to thy Father who is in secret: and thy Father who seeth in secret will repay thee.
“Lay not up to yourselves treasures on earth: where the rust and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to your treasures in heaven: where neither the rust nor moth consume, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.
“For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also.” Matthew VI 16-21.
We must continue daily life throughout this season. People around might forget that we are in Lent and that we are fasting, but that makes our sacrifices all the sweeter.
When we suffer in silence and keep up joyful appearances on the outside, those are the sacrifices that do the most.
As long as we remember to offer everything to God in reparation for sins, God will reward us for what we suffer now.
Lenten Decor
I want to share with you our centerpiece on our dining table which will stay there all throughout Lent.
I sewed a very simple table runner in the color of the vestments this season which is purple.
Added to that is a crown of thorns placed in the center.
That’s it. I wanted something that was very simple and reflective of Lent.
It’s exactly what I was going for and I’m pleased with the way it turned out.
I wish you a very blessed Lenten season.
God bless!
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