On Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the penitential season of Lent, our foreheads are marked with blessed ashes to remind us of our mortality and the need to repent of our sins.
This external marking with ashes symbolizes the internal penance to be practiced during the season of Lent. Ash Wednesday is a day of fasting (limiting the amount of food) and abstinence (not eating meat). Those two penitential practices and others associated with the 40 days of Lent offer us opportunities to turn away from sin and draw closer to the Lord. Ash Wednesday is a rather somber and austere day.
This year, Ash Wednesday falls on February 14, a very popular day, Valentine’s Day. A day associated with love and named after a Saint of the Catholic Church, Saint Valentine. His story has practically disappeared from popular culture. Yet, his name remains attached to the day, February 14, but without the revered title SAINT. Saint Valentine, a 3rd century Roman martyr, is the patron of love. There are many stories that explain how he achieved that patronage.
How many cards or signs say, “Happy Saint Valentine’s Day”? Who thinks about or associates a SAINT when arranging gifts of flowers, chocolates or jewelry for a loved one?
The symbol of the heart dominates the celebration of Valentine’s Day. Hearts are displayed everywhere. Perhaps, this year, with Lent beginning on Saint Valentine’s Day, the heart, a symbol for love, should dominate our observance of Lent 2024. Perhaps, our penitential and spiritual practices during Lent should focus on the love of God and love of others as our goals when we arrive at the conclusion of Lent, Easter.
For example, how do we keep the Great Commandment? “You shall love the Lord, your God with all your mind, with all your heart and with all your strength and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:35-40) This is the Law of Christ. Love of God and love of neighbor. Two sides on one coin. They are connected. Can we grow in our love of God and neighbor during the 40 days of Lent? Can we deepen our love of God and neighbor during the 40 days of Lent? This Lent, can we work on our hearts?
“Rend your hearts, not your garments,” says the advice of the prophet Joel, the first reading for the Liturgy of Ash Wednesday. Do our Lenten practices rend our hearts and allow the grace of Christ to invade them and turn us more toward the love of God and the love of neighbor?
“My heart is ready O God; my heart is ready,” cries the Psalmist. (Psalm 108) May readiness of heart characterize our Lenten observances and result for us with a deeper love of God and neighbor.
In addition to penitential practices, the daily and Sunday Mass Scriptures of the season of Lent are a rich source for prayer and reflection. Spend some time each Lenten day reading the Word of God assigned by the Church for that day. The Scriptures can deepen God’s love in our hearts and encourage us to reach out to others. The Word of God has the power to transform in our lives what needs to be changed. It can widen our hearts. Let it touch your heart and do in you and for you what the Word of God can do.
During Lent, our parishes offer a variety of spiritual practices such as faith-sharing groups, Stations of the Cross, missions, days of reflection, penance services and others. Take advantage of what works for you.
The 40 days of Lent can be compared to a journey or a pilgrimage during which our goal is to get our relationship with God and others in order. Saint Basil the Great wrote: “It is the period of Lent and the time of preparation for the central event of Christianity, Easter! Yes. Preparation as when preparing for an important party or meeting. We need to infuse it with the same passion, dedication, attention and desire – but clearly in this case, multiplying it all for God! Lent is therefore an excellent occasion made up of forty intense days, for living with a focus on prayer, fasting and good works. Difficult? Certainly, not easy, but why not think of it as pleasing?” (Homily on Fasting #8)
Since the first day of Lent this year falls on the feast of Saint Valentine, I suggest replacing the word “pleasing” in the final sentence of Saint Basil’s homily with the word “lovingly.” May our penitential practices be lovingly offered and result in our better loving God and loving neighbor.
HAPPY SAINT VALENTINE’S DAY. HAPPY LENT!!!!
Lenten Regulations
Lent is the 40-day season of preparation for Easter that ends on Holy Thursday, three days before Easter Sunday. During Lent, Catholics recall their baptism and do penance – fasting, prayer and almsgiving – as they commemorate the Death and Resurrection of Christ.
This year, Lent begins February 14, Ash Wednesday, and ends March 28, with the Easter Triduum beginning the evening of Holy Thursday and leading to the Mass of the Resurrection of the Lord at the Easter Vigil. Easter Sunday is March 31.
The days of both fast and abstinence are Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, March 29. The other Fridays of Lent are solely days of abstinence.
On a day of fast, only one (1) full meal is permitted. On a day of abstinence, no meat may be eaten. The law of abstinence binds those who are 14 and older. The law of fasting binds all those who are 18-59, if possible in regards to health.
The Fridays of the year, outside of Lent, are designated as days of penance, but each individual may substitute for the traditional abstinence from meat some other practice of voluntary self-denial as penance.
More info from the USCCB: https://www.usccb.org/prayer-worship/liturgical-year/lent
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