Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Season of Lent. It is a season of penance, reflection, and fasting which prepares us for Christ’s Resurrection on Easter Sunday, through which we attain redemption.
Following the example of the Ninevites, who did penance in sackcloth and ashes, our foreheads are marked with ashes to humble our hearts and reminds us that life passes away on Earth. We remember this when we are told:
“Remember, Man is dust, and unto dust you shall return.”
Ashes are a symbol of penance made sacramental by the blessing of the Church, and they help us develop a spirit of humility and sacrifice.
Lent is a time for travelling inward, in order to continue to live our outward lives in consonance with sacred teachings.
Along with more time for prayer and alms giving, we can mindfully take on a variety of things- actively volunteering our time and resources befriending the lonely, feeding the hungry, listening more deeply and caringly, speaking more kindly, reducing our non-ecological habits.
Let us try and do something special this time during Lent this year.
Lent is a season of soul-searching and repentance. It is a season for reflection and taking stock. Lent originated in the earliest days of the Church as a preparatory time for Easter, when the faithful rededicated themselves and when converts were instructed in the faith and prepared for baptism. By observing the forty days of Lent, the individual Christian imitates Jesus’ withdrawal into the wilderness for forty days.
With this in mind…let us read a reflection by William Arthur Ward entitled
Fasting and Feasting.
Lent should be more than a time of fasting. It should be a joyous season of feasting. Lent is a time to fast from certain things and to feast on others. It is a season in which we should:
Fast from judging others; feast on the Christ dwelling in them.
Fast from emphasis on differences; feast on the unity of all life.
Fast from thought of illness; feast on the healing power of God.
Fast from words that pollute; feast on the phrases that purify.
Fast from discontent; feast on gratitude.
Fast from anger; feast on patience.
Fast from pessimism; feast on optimism.
Fast from worry; feast on hope.
Fast from complaining; feast on appreciation.
Fast from negatives; feast on affirmatives.
Fast from bitterness; feast on forgiveness.
Fast from self-concern; feast on compassion for others.
Fast from discouragement; feast on hope.
Fast from suspicion; feast on truth.
Fast from thoughts that weaken; feast on promises that inspire.
Joe Gonsalves
When we are in mothers arm, we understand Ma love.
When we are in lenten season we reflect our Lords love.
In this season to be with Jesus one should love.