Lenten Series: Ash Wednesday

“What is Lent?” 

We often hear this query from puzzled friends, relatives, or even acquaintances that are not Catholic. Even some Catholics, especially young people, don't always know the exact reason behind the ashes, penance, or other Lenten symbols. 

 You may have also heard these familiar questions: “Why do you wear ashes on your head on Wednesday?” “Why do you abstain from meat on Fridays?” 

Lent is a beautiful season of spiritual renewal. It is a forty day period, beginning on Ash Wednesday, in which the whole Catholic Church enters into a time of repentance, prayer, and fasting in preparation for Jesus Christ ’s Resurrection on Easter Sunday. The Catholic Church devotes an entire liturgical season to this preparation because it is through Jesus’s Resurrection that we attain redemption. 

 As I mentioned yesterday, today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Although today is not a Holy Day of Obligation, most Catholics attend Mass to not only receive our Lord in Holy Communion but to be marked with ashes on our forehead. Many Christians also have Ash Wednesday services.

Ashes, an ancient symbol of penance and grief, are used to remind life is passing. They are a physical sign of our earthly death: "...thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return," (Genesis 3:19). Today is a day of fasting and abstaining from meat. 

Any repentance -  turning away from sin and back to God- should include some form of penance.  As Catholics, we are known for refraining from consuming meat on Fridays, but the reason is not widely known. Why do we not eat barbeque, hamburgers, sausage or chicken on that day of the week? The answer is simple: we abstain from meat on Friday in honor of the Passion of Christ, for it was on a Friday He died. 

 During Lent, all Catholics refrain from meat on Fridays from age 14 until they die. The Church gives such emphasis to this significant day that she asks us to make a sacrifice on this day, outside of Lent as well. (It doesn't have to be meat, but many Catholics choose that as their Friday penance.)

 Why meat? The Church chooses meat because of the connection to the Flesh of Christ. It is a small symbolic sacrifice we make to honor the sacrifice Jesus made in sacrificing His Flesh for us. So let your neighbors and friends know not to invite you over for a barbecue or pot of gumbo on a Friday! (It is an especially difficult task in the South, particularly in Louisiana- renowned for its delicious, meat-based food.)

 Catholics spend this forty-day period concentrating on three traditional Lenten disciplines: 

• Prayer 
• Fasting 
• Almsgiving 

Prayer

 Prayer can be deepened by daily Mass, reciting the Rosary which is meditation on the Gospel accounts of Jesus’s life, or spending an hour of quiet time with God. 

Fasting

Fasting is binding for Catholics from the age of eighteen to fifty-nine. Catholics are obliged to limit themselves to one full meal and two smaller meals that if put together should not equal a second full meal. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, the day of Christ’s death, are both days of fast and abstinence. 

Almsgiving

Almsgiving is particularly important because according to Saint Paul , of  “faith, hope and love…the greatest of these is love.” (1 Cor. 13, 13). Compassion toward the less fortunate can be carried out by donating to charities, food pantries, and volunteer work. It can also be as simple as picking up after your younger siblings without nagging them to do it yourself, doing a chore not asked of you, or making dinner when you know your mom has had a long day. 

 To many of us Lent can symbolize a depressing time of restraint and gloom just as the earth around us is preparing to burst forth with new life and beauty. However, Lent - with its encouragement to practice prayer, fasting, and almsgiving - is actually a blessing in disguise. Just as young men in the medieval times underwent periods of fasting, training, and vigils to become a knight, we too prepare for the Holiest of Holy Days – Easter Sunday. By  fasting, practicing penance, and rooting our lives in prayer, we imitate our Lord when he went into the desert: “And he fasted forty days and forty nights and afterward he was hungry...Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him.” (Matt. 4:2, 11)

 Each family, each home, is like a little monastery – we can celebrate this quiet, reflective season simply, and together. While the thought of Lent may be a daunting one at first, some simple plans and commitments are really all you need! 

 Lent can be difficult to grasp...how do you try and walk through a desert with Jesus? How do you remember to keep your mind on His sufferings when you are rushing through daily life?

Why not try using a purple tablecloth on the table on Fridays and Sundays or place a wreath of bare vines or thorns on the table as the centerpiece?

 Purple, the color of royalty and also of mourning is the liturgical color for Lent – it catches our eye and makes us pause. Using the color purple in your house brings an awareness of the season we're celebrating. Just like Christmas decorations heighten our excitement, the Lenten color of purple reminds of the penance we're practicing. Try placing prayer cards or Rosaries out where you can see them as a reminder to pray. 

     The discipline of giving something up is the most associated with Lent, yet it can also be the most meaningful. By denying ourselves something we take pleasure in, such as a favorite food, sweets, TV, or internet, we teach ourselves spiritual strength. If we are able to say no to a piece of cake we might want, or angry words that spring to our lips, we will be able to overcome a graver, future temptation.  Parents constantly make sacrifices for their children out of love, so why not make a sacrifice for our Heavenly Father out of love?  It is a small gift we can offer God and one that pleases Him. 

 As our very own Clare wrote, “Better to give up chocolate because it’s a good thing and you love it, but because your love for God’s goodness is greater.” 

As we give up one thing, it is also customary to take up something, such as attending daily Mass, praying the Stations of the Cross, or using time ordinarily spent on the internet or tv in prayer instead.

   Above all, Lent is a time of renewal, an invitation for us to clean out our souls and purify them for Christ’s Resurrection at Easter. Just as housewives partake in spring cleaning, we can wash our souls with prayer, works of charity, and penance, so that just like our homes, our souls are sparkling clean and ready to receive our Lord.

You can find some tips and links for Lenten ideas on my blog, My Spare Oom.