Deacon Jeff Artigues, right, marks Lou Ann Vasek's forehead with ashes at St. Joseph Catholic Church Wednesday. The parish held three Ash Wednesday Masses, preparing its faithful for the season of Lent. (Photo by Charlie Benton, SDN)
For millions of Catholics and other Christians across the world, Wednesday marked the beginning of the season of Lent.
In Starkville, St. JosephCatholic Church celebrated three Ash WednesdayMasses, along with an additional service at its Corpus Christi Mission in Macon. St. Joseph Parochial Vicar Rev. Jason Johnston said Ash Wednesday served as the beginning of Lent, and a reminder to the faithful of what’s to come.
“It’s 40 days before Easter, so it ends up on a Wednesday,” Johnston said. “Those 40 days are preparation. Throughout scripture, we see 40 days, 40 days Noah spent in the Ark, 40 days the Israelites
were in the desert, 40 days Jesus spent in fasting and prayer in the desert, so 40 days is seen scripturally as a time of preparation.”
He described AshWednesday as the beginning of spiritual preparation for the resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday As the priest or other minister makes the sign of the cross with ashes on a parishioner’s forehead, they recite the phrase “repent and believe in the Gospel,” or “remember that your are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
“A lot of people come,” Johnston said. “This is probably the third most popular day of our church year, the first being Christmas and the second being Easter.”
He said the popularity of the services was a good sign that people acknowledged their sins and wished to repent.
“Lent is 40 days of preparationbefore the Easter season, so it’s a time for us to really engage in the practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving,” Johnston said. “Those are the three pillars of Lent in some ways. We’re all called during this time of spiritual preparation for Easter to engage in prayer, fasting and almsgiving.”
St. Joseph Parishioner Maria Tomaso-Peterson said she sees Lent in a much more vivid light after going on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land earlier this year.
“After seeing where Jesus went for 40 days and 40 nights in the desert, what He did for us and knew what was going to happen when he went to the Garden of Gethsemane and knew that he was going to be taken prisoner, the pain and sorrow that He felt was intense, but He did it all for us and for our sins,” Tomaso-Peterson said.
Tomaso-Peterson’s sister, Monica Short, said she viewed the season as a time of reflection.
“Lent is a time for us to reflect on that, and decide what we can do to grow closer to Him and be better people,” Short said.
Neither Tomaso-Peterson nor Short said they intended to give up anything specifically during Lent, although Tomaso-Peterson said she planned to use the season to deepen her faith. Short said she planned to pray more and volunteer in various ministries at St. Joseph.
“What we heard all throughout our pilgrimage is ‘pray more, pray more, build that relationship,’” Tomaso-Peterson said.