San Angelo Catholics Observe Ash Wednesday

SAN ANGELO, TX -- Hundreds of local Roman Catholics attended Ash Wednesday Mass at Sacred Heart Cathedral during the noon hour Wednesday.  

The annual Ash Wednesday observance marks the beginning of the season of Lent which is a 40 day season of fasting, abstainance, prayer, giving and repentance.  According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), “During Lent, we are asked to devote ourselves to seeking the Lord in prayer and reading Scripture, to service by giving alms, and to sacrifice self-control through fasting. Many know of the tradition of abstaining from meat on Fridays during Lent, but we are also called to practice self-discipline and fast in other ways throughout the season. Contemplate the meaning and origins of the Lenten fasting tradition in this reflection. In addition, the giving of alms is one way to share God's gifts—not only through the distribution of money, but through the sharing of our time and talents. As St. John Chrysostom reminds us: "Not to enable the poor to share in our goods is to steal from them and deprive them of life. The goods we possess are not ours, but theirs." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2446).

Lent runs from February 14 to Wednesday March 28 this year.  Catholics are encouraged to fast each Friday which means abstaining from eating meat and eating two small meals and one full meal during the day. Tradition has Catholics eating fish on Fridays and many parishes have fish fries each Friday of Lent.  

The season of Lent is in preparation for Easter.  According to the USCCB, “Easter is the celebration of the Lord's resurrection from the dead, culminating in his Ascension to the Father and sending of the Holy Spirit upon the Church. There are 50 days of Easter from the first Sunday to Pentecost.It is characterized, above all, by the joy of glorified life and the victory over death, expressed most fully in the great resounding cry of the Christian:  Alleluia! All faith flows from faith in the resurrection:"If Christ has not been raised, then empty is our preaching; empty, too, is your faith." (1 Cor 15:14)

The word "Easter" comes from Old English, meaning simply the "East." The sun which rises in the East, bringing light, warmth and hope, is a symbol for the Christian of the rising Christ, who is the true Light of the world.  

Wednesday is also Valentine’s Day.  Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, the archbishop of New York, said in a blog post that people should not set aside their Ash Wednesday obligations.

“Ash Wednesday has precedence, and the coincidence of St. Valentine’s Day would not lift for us the duty of fasting and self-denial,” he wrote.  “Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are the only two days of the whole year on which fasting and abstinence are required.”