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Today we celebrate Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Many of us begin this special season of the year by celebrating Mass and receiving ashes on our foreheads in the form of a cross. The priest, while putting the ashes on our heads, says, “Turn away from sin, and be faithful to the Gospel.”
Like all liturgical seasons of the year, Lent is a “joyful” one. In fact, one of the prefaces we use in Mass during Lent calls this season just that – joyful. And the reason it is joyful is that is preparing us for the greatest of all feast days of the Church Year, Easter.
During Lent, we are all called to do something special to strengthen our spiritual lives. Some people do this by subtracting something they like from their life, such as giving up candy or television, to show that the spirit is stronger than the body. Others, instead of giving something up, add something to their spiritual lives, such as praying special prayers that ordinarily would not do or helping someone in need.
Whatever you decide to do special, I advise you to “keep it simple.”
The photo above is me giving ashes to Norberto Bautista at the Basilica Shrine of St. Mary. Norberto is now a seminarian studying in Mexico City to become a Piarist priest.
