Dear Fellow Parishioners,

Just a few days ago, we took part in the perhaps the most widely attended Mass of the year: Ash Wednesday. The most likely estimates set the number of people worldwide who received the ashes of penitence above one billion, and probably significantly more. In many parishes, including our own, more people attend Ash Wednesday than Christmas or Easter. Though it has no special rank as a feast and is not a Holy Day of Obligation, people come out of a deeply felt inner need.

Unlike Christmas and Easter, Ash Wednesday is a work day for most people, requiring them to attend either before or after work. And the Mass count does not include those parishes which distribute Ashes from morning to night, without Mass. People can walk in, receive ashes, and go. One parish I read about calls it “Ash and Dash.” Nor does this count the many people who receive ashes in other faith communities (e.g., Lutherans, Episcopalians).

It has been called Ash Wednesday, and celebrated 40 days before Easter, since at least 601 A.D. The tradition of imposing ashes on the forehead dates back to the 11th century. The older practice was not to sign the cross on the forehead, but to sprinkle the ashes over their heads– a practice still observed in other areas of the world.

At St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, in addition to scheduled Masses, ashes were available continuously from 7:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. I believe well over 50,000 people received ashes in that parish alone, while hearing “Repent, and believe in the Gospel,” or “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.”

The two main changes to the Mass for Lent here at SV are the elimination of the Gloria, and the elimination of the word, “Alleluia”, so that those two words can, after period of disuse, resound all the more clearly at the Easter Vigil.

Last Sunday at the 9:00 a.m. Mass, we also had the Rite of Sending, in which we formally present the catechumens and candidates to the People of God, and then they go to the cathedral to be received by the bishop. The difference between catechumens and candidates is that “catechumens” are unbaptized and will receive all three Sacraments of Initiation at Easter. Candidates or those who have been baptized (whether as Catholics or non-Catholics) but who still want to receive the remaining Sacraments of Initiation (Eucharist and Confirmation) in full communion with the Church. In the meantime, I ask you to join with me in prayer for these catechumens and candidates (and their families) as we all continue our journey to Easter.

Blessings, Fr. Bill Donahue