Weekly Gospel Reflection

Ash Wednesday is the best way to start the Lenten Season. It marks the first day of the 40 days of Lent, a six-week period (excluding Sundays) where people of faith are called to pray, fast and reflect in preparation for Easter. Cardinal Neumen once described this Lent season as a time to “re-focus.”

Through this season of refocusing, we are called to the radical mission of Jesus – feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, visit the imprisoned, shelter the homeless, visit the sick and bury the dead. 

During the Ash Wednesday Mass, ashes are marked on people’s foreheads in the shape of the cross. These ashes come from the burning of the palms from the previous year’s Palm Sunday. 

Catholics refrainfrom eating red meat on Ash Wednesday as in Jesus’ time, red meat was seen as a novelty. This is as pork, beef or poultry requires animals to be fed and reared so would only be eaten on special occasions. Fish and vegetables on the other hand could be retrieved and eaten far more readily. 

Loving God, 

Help us in this Lenten Season to make room for you in our days, our minds and in our hearts.  We ask you to be with us, to refocus ourselves and hear your radical message to help others. 

St John Vianney, 

Pray for us. 

By Jonathan Rooney with excepts from Kathy HendSadlier Religion.com