If Fat Tuesday finds you feasting on pancakes or jelly donuts or chocolate or beer - I presume you don't need much encouragement from me!
So, I'll continue to direct your attention to tomorrow: Ash Wednesday.
There was a time, and it is still the case in many places, when Ash Wednesday would see hordes of people streaming into churches to be signed with an ashen cross on their foreheads. My experience in suburbia, however, offers another experience in which the Ash Wednesday population is considerably less than the regular weekend crowds. Granted, some folks will go to Ash Wednesday services near their work sites, but my guess is that some number of Catholics no longer count this the important day their ancestors did.
Of course, Ash Wednesday is not a day of obligation but it is nonetheless a unique day on the church calendar and a unique way to begin the Lenten season.
I encourage you, then, wherever you may be tomorrow, to make an effort to join a community for prayer and to be marked with the sign of the Cross by which we are saved.
thank you for your encouraging words... in my situation, I live and work not very close to the parish I belong to and go to on the weekends. Going to a "new" church, even for one mass, is a difficult thing for me to do- but, my faith is VERY important to me, and especially critical right now...
ReplyDeleteIt was nice to see faces- public and private alike, acknowledging their faith and humanity.
ReplyDelete