Rev. Gus Puleo: Marking the start of Lent with Ash Wednesday
Have you looked at the calendar recently? Have you noticed that in 2024 Ash Wednesday and St. Valentine’s Day fall on the same day?
Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. Lent is the time before Easter when Catholics prepare to commemorate Jesus’s Resurrection, through prayer, penance and fasting. Lent is the 40 days, excluding Sundays, leading up to Easter. The number “40” is significant as it refers to Jesus’s 40 days in the desert before beginning his ministry of teaching.
On Ash Wednesday Catholics receive ashes in the shape of a cross on their forehead or sprinkled on top of their head. These ashes come from the palms used during the previous year’s Palm Sunday Mass. They symbolize atonement, which is appropriate as Lent is a season of penance and it reminds us of our own mortality. During the Mass as the priest or a lay minister applies the ashes, he says, “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return” emphasizing the virtues of penance and humility. Everyone who attends Mass can receive ashes.
Ashes have a place of prominence in the Old Testament. They are an outward sign of an internal state of penance or mourning. Some scriptural references are:
1 – “Therefore I disown what I have said, and repent in dust and ashes” from Job 42:6
2 – “I turned to the Lord God to seek help, in prayer and petition, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes” Daniel 9:3.
3 – “When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, laid aside robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes” Jonah 3:6-7
This same practice continues after the coming of Jesus. The practice of public penance was common in the Early Church. After confessing, a person would receive ashes on his head from the priest. The practice of wearing ashes to mark the beginning of Lent was first recorded during the time of St. Gregory the Great in the 6th Century. The Gregorian Sacramentary has the earliest known record of it, then known as the “Day of Ashes.” Pope Urban II recommended the practice be used universally throughout the Church in 1091.
Contrary to popular belief, Ash Wednesday is not a Holy Day of Obligation for Catholics. However, many Catholics choose to attend Mass to mark the beginning of the Lenten season. Not eating meat on Ash Wednesday and Fridays during Lent is mandatory for everyone from age 14 and older. Fasting is required by those between 18-59 years of age during Lent on Ash Wednesday and Fridays which means that one is permitted to eat one full meal and two smaller ones, that are not equal to the larger meal.
Lent is a time of spiritual preparation, self-examination and penance that leads up to the celebration of Easter. Catholics use this time to imitate Jesus’s 40 days in the desert. It is a time to deepen our relationship with God, seeking forgiveness of our sins and grow in our spiritual life. During this time Catholics should pray, fast and perform charitable acts or give charitable alms as a way to draw closer to God.
So about this conundrum of Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday falling on the same day. Ash Wednesday is really more important than Valentine’s Day, so it gets first preference. However, why not celebrate St. Valentine’s Day on Tuesday, Mardi Gras Day, and then celebrate Ash Wednesday on the next day? It’s Ash Wednesday and not any other day of the week. Happy Lent!
The Rev. Gus Puleo serves as director of the English as a Second Language (ESL) program and the Spanish Department at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia, where he also teaches English and Spanish. He is a graduate of Norristown High School and attended Georgetown University, where he received B.A. and B.S. in Spanish and linguistics. He has master’s degrees in Spanish, linguistics and divinity from Middlebury College, Georgetown University and St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. He holds a Ph.D. in Spanish from the University of Pennsylvania. He is the former pastor of St. Patrick Church in Norristown.
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