Christian Mark The Start Of Lent With Ash Wednesday

Just kidding! I joke each year about giving up social media for Lent, but writing on Facebook and Twitter are part of my job. The observance of Lent goes back to the early days of the Church.

When we deny ourselves something we enjoy, and which it isn’t wrong to want, we are saying there is something more important in our lives than pleasure or items.

Steve Blaha, assistant director of Campus Ministry, said Easter is the largest yearly celebration for the Church, celebrating the Lord’s Resurrection. This is the time when Christians immerse themselves in prayer and penance.

Lent is the period preceding Easter, which is devoted to fasting, abstinence, and penitence in commemoration of Christ’s fasting in the wilderness.

The days of Lent recall Christ’s 40 days in the desert and encourage us to pray to seek that we do good as we walk with Jesus to Good Friday and Easter.

“It is a journey of healing, it is a journey of hope … that we will experience the mercy of Jesus”, he said. Bishop also said Jesus himself spoke of the three pillars of repentance highlighted in the Old Testament.

“We must live a life of sacrifice, love and kindness”, he said. There will never be a day, never be an hour, when God gives up on us. Church-goers wave the palm leaves to mark the feast day that begins Holy Week.

Cath said the brief encounter does not take away from the impact of the traditional start of the 40-day Lenten church season.

The following year, the fronds are burned to create the ashes for Ash Wednesday.

Since ancient times, ashes have been a sign of penitence. At this moment in history, glitter ashes will be a powerful reminder of St. Augustine’s teaching that we can not despair because despair paralyzes, thwarting repentance and impeding the change that we are called to make.

During the services, the clergy used their thumb to place the sign of the cross with ashes on each person’s forehead.

These words echo the Word of God to Adam and Eve after the fall.

The idea was to allow people drive in one gate, receive ashes on their forehead, and then drive out the other.

We are now entering into what is known as the Lenten season.

Indeed, the Ash Wednesday gospel reading seems to teach a lesson that might be seen as a sharp critique of the ashtag.

St. Patrick’s Church, in Glenamaddy, Galway, opened a drive-thru Wednesday morning to provide Ashes for Catholics who did not have time to attend mass. All are welcome to join the church.