Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Remember you are dust, and to dust you will return
Here's a photo which I took this evening before Ash Wednesday Mass.I burnt the last of previous year's palm leaves left behind by some members of the congregation.
Lent preparation for Lent begins today. It includes the three Sundays called respectively Septuagesima (50), Sexagesima (60), and Quinquagesima (70). They were so named because in the early days of Christianity many communities began the fast 50, 60 or 70 days before Easter. In order not to have to fast every day of the forty.
Today- Ash Wednesday- is the Wednesday after Quinquagesima. The name Ash Wednesday is derived from the imposition of Ashes upon the foreheads of the faithful. On this day- Ash Wednesday- the season of Lent commences; it is 46 days before Easter; thus the number of days is completed without the six Sundays, on which we do not fast.
During Lent the public life of Our Lord Jesus Christ is set before us, His previous fast, His Passion and death. The 40 days which intervene before the ascension represent the 40 days He spent on earth after His resurrection. (Traditionally, the 3 days before the Ascension are Rogation days; on these processions are held.)
This Lent let us obtain actual graces by performing good works, especially by prayer, fasting, and almsdeeds; and more especially by the use of the means of grace provided by the Church, by hearing Holy Mass and worthy reception of the sacraments.
God's grace cannot be obtained by our own good works alone, otherwise it would not be grace (Rom 11:6), yet these good works are necessary, for, as St. Augustine says, "God, Who created us without our co-opertation will need not save us without our co-operation." Not according to the works we have done but out of His mercy has God saved us (Tit 3:5). Graces are given to us by the Holy Ghost as He wills, with regard however to the preparation and co-operation of the individual (Trent 6,7). Hence it is that a man receives more actual grace as he is richer in good works. Some efficacious prayers include prayes to the Holy Ghost and to the Mother of God as we know that God gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him and that Mary is "full of grace", and "the dispenser of all graces." St. Alphonsus, founder of the Order of the Holy Redeemer reminds saying, "Let no one consider this last title extravagent, for the greatest of Saints have so spoken of her, and the Saints, as we know, were inspired by the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of truth."
Some other means of confering many graces include prayer to the Blessed Sacrament and the mortification of the senses. The latter (found in the conduct of the Apostles during the time preceeding Pentecost) is a good example of drawing down grace.
Have a Holy Lenten Season!
Copiosa apud eum redemptio,
Paul D. Molina
Ash Wednesday '07
Labels: Catholic Belief, Lent, Photos, Spirituality
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