Ash Wednesday marks beginning of Lenten season

Lent is often used as a time for personal and spiritual improvement.

By Angela Case

Published Feb. 26, 2009

On Wednesday, many people with crosses of ash on their foreheads could be seen walking around campus observing Ash Wednesday, the first day of the Catholic season Lent.

"Ash Wednesday is an opportunity to introduce people to the season of Lent," said the Rev. Shane Fitzgerald, a member of the ministry team at the St. Thomas More Parish and Newman Center.

The ashes themselves, which are traced on foreheads by a priest or Eucharistic minister during a special mass, are significant, he said.

The person distributing the ashes recites one of two phrases while tracing the cross on the foreheads of the congregation: "Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return," or "Turn away from sin and believe in the gospel."

Both are a reminder that Lent is a penitential season of remembering where people come from and where they are going, Fitzgerald said.

Ash Wednesday represents the beginning of a reflective season for Catholics that lasts for forty days leading up to Easter, excluding Sundays.

"Lent is a time of inner reflection, a time of renewal, a time to restart your relationships with Christ and other people," said the Rev. Simon Felix Michalski, associate pastor of the Newman Center. "We take a little time to pause and to reflect upon the nature of life, where we're going, where we've come from, how we're going to get there."

Although individual interpretations of Lent can vary, but many Catholics agree it is a time for self-improvement.

Junior Kaitlin Bender attends the Newman Center.

"Lent is a time to look inside yourself and see what you need to work on," Bender said. "It's a time to reflect on how you can grow as a better person and a better Christian."

In keeping with the themes of sacrifice and self-improvement, many people choose to give things up during Lent, such as certain foods or activities.

"The idea behind fasting is to give up time you would normally spend with something that you enjoy and instead do something else," Michalski said. "So if you're fasting from food, for example, the you would give the money your normally spend on food to the poor. If you're fasting from Internet, you now spend in prayer the time you would have spent doing that. The idea is to give something up so that you can improve in your spiritual life."

Many people, including Bender, use Lenten fasting as an opportunity for personal and spiritual improvement.

"I'm giving up sarcasm," she said. "I don't really think before I speak, and I think I'd be a better person if I did. I think giving up sarcasm, which comes second nature to me, would be a good way to do it."

Bender hopes the effects of her sacrifice will remain even after the season is over.

"I'm just hoping it will help change me as a person, that it will help me censor myself more and just make me more cautious of what I say," she said.

The Newman Center will be hosting a variety of events to help students observe the Lenten season, including a fish fry today and March 20, soup suppers and a spring retreat March 6-8.

Several events, including Stations of the Cross in both English on Fridays and Spanish on Saturdays, will also be held at Columbia's Sacred Heart Catholic church.