Ready Or Not ... Here It Comes

Lent has arrived.

1,485 people got the word on the yard that it was Ash Wednesday yesterday. Yup, that's right...1,485 attended Ash Wednesday Mass here at the Academy. This photo was taken yesterday from the choir loft. It moves me every time I look at it. People in the world today are searching and yearning for Love. True LOVE. The love of Christ.


I just read a excerpt from the Pope's homily yesterday at the Ash Wed. Mass at St. Sabina on the Aventine hill in Rome. Enjoy the rich deep history and theology of the ashes.

Ash Wednesday is a day of fasting and penance on which we begin a new journey towards the Easter of Resurrection, the journey of Lent. I would like to reflect on the liturgical sign of the ashes, a material sign, a natural element that, in the Liturgy, becomes a sacred symbol, so important on this day that marks the start of our Lenten journey. In ancient times, in the Jewish culture, it was common to sprinkle one’s head with ashes as a sign of penance, and to dress in sack-cloth and rags. For us Christians, there is this one moment which has important symbolic and spiritual relevance.

Ashes are the material sign that brings the cosmos into the Liturgy. The most important signs are those of the Sacraments: water, oil, bread and wine, which become true sacramental elements through which we communicate the Grace of Christ who comes among us. The ashes are not a sacramental sign, but they are linked with prayer and the sanctification of the Christian people. Before the ashes are placed on our heads, they are blessed according to two possible formulae: in the first they are called “austere symbols”, in the second, we invoke a blessing directly upon them, referring to the text in the Book of Genesis which can also accompany the imposition of the ashes: “Remember that you are dust and unto dust you shall return”.

Let draw close to the heart of Jesus this Lent and offer up every little thing and ask for us to draw closer to Him. For what will truly make us happy, is Him and His Love.


P.S. The Sisters of Life joined us Tuesday and Wed. on the Yard! Sr. Maris Stella (she graduated from the USNA in 2001) spoke at our FOCUS Outbreak (our large group event).  She was a huge hit! We had just about 100 Mids come out for it. Here is a picture from their visit.