Ash Wednesday

Reflection for Ash Wednesday – Lent 2013

From the Pastor, PNCC /

My brothers and sisters in Christ, today we enter a new liturgical Season. Together, we have gathered here on this evening to celebrate “Ash Wednesday,” the first of forty days of the Lenten Season that precedes Easter.

At the beginning of Lent, on Ash Wednesday, ashes are blessed during Holy Mass, after the homily. The blessed ashes are then “imposed” on the faithful as a sign of conversion, penance, fasting and human mortality. The liturgical Rite of Ash Wednesday gives two formulae for the imposition of Ashes:

One is: “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return”.

It is a reminder of the fragility of human life. It reminds us that we entered life without things and that we will leave life without things. So, we are challenged to reflect on what our life means, and what it means to be truly human.

The other formula is “Repent and believe the Gospel”.

It is about a change in life, a turning round. Repentance is also about returning to what is essential in human life. The first reading calls us to: “Come back to [God] with all your heart.” The Prophet Joel urges us to return to the Father “with your whole heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning… For he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment.” To practice sincere repentance, the Lord God tells us to change our hearts. We are called to examine our most inner self, our hearts, souls, our whole life and turn away from our sins and to walk in God`s righteous ways.

During today’s Second Reading from the Second Letter to the Corinthians, we heard St. Paul appealing to us on behalf of Jesus to be reconciled to God. God the Father sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us on the cross. He who was without sin took our place and was treated as a sinner, so we might become righteous in the eyes of God. Now is the time for us to show our appreciation to the Lord God by walking in His righteousness so we may inherit the salvation that we have asked of Him and which He is granting to us through His infinite love and mercy.

How do we walk in righteousness?

Jesus answered that question during today’s Reading from the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus warns us against hypocrisy, those who are pious so they may be seen by others. They have received their rewards through those who admired and praised them for it. For them, there is no reward from God the Father in Heaven.

During the Lenten Season, our piety must manifest private time between the Lord God and ourselves. Lenten season is a time to reflect on our lives and on the faith into which we were baptized. We must walk with Christ in our lives every minute of the day, from the time we rise in the morning until the time we go to bed at night.

Be reconciled to God!

These are the guidelines that the Church has received from God so the faithful may experience true repentance in order to receive Divine mercy and forgiveness. As we enter the Lenten Season, let us remember these words every day! Practice them! And I assure you that God shall reward us!

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Lenten Services in East Meadow

Liturgical, Parish Life /

Ash Wednesday ‑ Mass and Blessing and Distribution of ashes will be held on Wednesday, March 9th at 7 p.m..

Stations of the Cross ‑ will be held each Sunday following Mass, during the season of Lent. Come join us, as we follow in prayer and devotion, the suffering, death, and burial of Our Lord, Jesus Christ! Renew and enlarge your sense of all our Lord has done for us…

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Lent at St. Francis Parish

Liturgical, Parish Life, PNCC /

Ash Wednesday, February 17 – Holy Mass and distribution of ashes at 7pm

Ash Wednesday is the first day of the penitential season of Lent, in which ashes are placed on the head or forehead of the faithful.

Ash Wednesday is unknown in the Eastern Church, and developed only in the West. Orthodox Churches begin Lent on a Monday, known as “Clean Monday.” Ash Wednesday as an official fast day dates to at least the 8th century, since it appears in the Gregorian Sacramentary from that period. Originally, Lent began on a Sunday. However, in order to bring the number of days of Lent to 40 (the days Jesus fasted in the wilderness), the beginning of Lent was eventually transferred to a Wednesday.

Originally, Ash Wednesday was the day when public penitents in Rome began their penance. Recall that in the early Church, penance was often public and protracted. It was only later that private confession and penance began, for pastoral reasons. When public penance gradually fell into disuse by the 8th century, Ash Wednesday became a day of penitence and fasting for all members of the Church. Today, Ash Wednesday is a universal Fast day in the Catholic Church. Many Western Protestant churches also observe Ash Wednesday, including Anglicans, Lutherans, Presbyterians, and United Methodists.

Stations of the Cross – every Sunday during Lent after Holy Mass

Stations of the Cross (Way of the Cross, Via Crucis, Via Dolorosa, Way of Sorrows) refers to the illustration of the final hours (or Passion) of Jesus, and the devotion commemorating the Passion.

The tradition as a chapel devotion began with St. Francis of Assisi and extended throughout the Catholic Church in the medieval period. It is less often observed in the Anglican and Lutheran churches. It may be done at any time, but is most commonly done during the Season of Lent, especially on Good Friday and on Friday evenings during Lent.

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Reflection for Ash Wednesday -2009

From the Pastor /

Jest drabina do nieba,
Przy drabinie stoi krzyż

Here is the ladder to heaven
And beside the ladder stands the cross

These words are translated from a very old Polish Lenten hymn.

Jesus came to call us to heaven. This is a wonderful invitation but the party is not free. There is work to be done.
We are called to repent and to do even more. We are called to be reborn, or as Bishop Hodur said, to be regenerated.

From the bottom of the ladder it looks like a long way to the top. Even worse, we must pass by this cross. Before we begin our climb we have to look up and see the body of Jesus, bloody, beaten, and dying on this cross.

If our faith is weak, if we are not committed to Christ, we walk away from the ladder. We take the easy road – the way of the world. For those of us here tonight we are well on our way. We are climbing. Some may be on the lower rungs, some higher up. We are making the climb.

Today’s readings remind us that our God is a God of forgiveness. He is a God that cares more about the loyalty of the heart than about outward appearances. Our God gives us the grace and strength to make the climb as long as our hearts are loyal to Him.

Do we slip a few rungs?
Do we sometimes hold on by only our fingers?
Do we make mistakes? Yes!
Does that doom our climb and cast us into hell? No! Because our God is a God of forgiveness.

I started by saying that the invitation to the party is not free. The offer is free, but we have to respond to the offer.

We respond by our work and our dedication.
We respond by our love.
We respond by the loyalty in our hearts.

I will mark you with ashes. Picture this mark in your minds and remember it is always there. You are Christians. Use this Lenten season to gain control. Ask for God’s grace to control your desires. Fast, abstain from meat as the church asks you to. It is not simple piety. It is the first step to saying that with God’s grace we have mastery over the world. We can control evil’s influence over us.

When the road to spiritual death seems most open and easy, when the road to sin looks like fun, picture the sign on your heads and hang onto that ladder.

Amen.

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