Friends, Roman Catholics, Countrymen, Lent me your ears
For Lent I will continue blogging as a penance for others. So be prepared for more bad puns during this season, for after all Lent is a punitential season.
Ash Wednesday must be a Cultural Day of Obligation. Every Ash Wednesday Mass that I have attended (which has only been since 1998) has always been full and overflowing with people, unlike real Holy Days of Obligation like the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. I am not quite sure what brings people to this Mass at the start of Lent and not to other holy days. Is it the ashes or more of a Catholic Cultural phenomenon? If it is the sacramental drawing of the cross on the forehead with ashes then maybe we could have face painting on All Saints Day to draw more people. The Mass I attended this morning with my wife had three priests to distribute the ashes. One of them the elder visiting color blind brother of one of the priest at my Parish, at least I hope he was color blind since he wore an orange stole.
I am actually looking forward for this season of Lent as an opportunity for that continuing fine-tuning of the Christian life and too help me prepare for that glorious celebration of Easter. I know I need to more deeply prepare and reflect on the death and sacrifice of Christ which lead to our redemption. I should be totally awestruck by this and not just plodding through life. The liturgical seasons are one of the greatest gifts of the Church to us. They help us to continue to grow and to always put forward the life of Jesus to us. I just hope that at the end of Lent I will have moved closer to Jesus.
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My pastor once remarked about how people won't show up for a Holy Day of Obligation, but if you are giving away something, people show up in droves. In my words, an obligation under pain of mortal sin and therefore possible eternal hellfire doesn't get people to Mass on a weekday, but giving them something does. Palm Sunday is another popular day for people to all show up when they otherwise wouldn't.