Holy Cross Marks Ash Wednesday, Beginning of Lent, With Campus Liturgies

The Christian season of Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, Feb. 6. Ashes will be distributed at the following liturgies on campus:

• 8:15 a.m. Morning Prayer (Marty Kelly, assistant Chaplain, Mary Chapel) • 12:05 p.m. Mass (Rev. William Stempsey, S.J., professor and chair of the philosophy department, Mary Chapel) • 5 p.m. Evening Prayer (Kim McElaney, director of the Chaplains’ Office, Mary Chapel) • 10 p.m. Mass (Rev. James Hayes, S.J., associate Chaplain, Mary Chapel)

By tradition dating back to Pope Urban II in 1091, Christians have been marked with ashes in the sign of the cross on this first day of Lent. The ashes are made from burning the palm branches from the previous year’s celebration of Palm Sunday.

“Symbols of human mortality, ashes represent our complete dependency on the mercy of God,” says Paul Covino, associate Chaplain and director of liturgy at Holy Cross. “By wearing the ashes on their foreheads on Ash Wednesday, Christians indicate that they wish to undertake Lent as a season of penance and reconciliation, a time to ‘turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel,’ which are the words that the priest or other minister says as he or she traces the cross of ashes on one’s forehead.”

Although a very popular day to come to church, Ash Wednesday is not a Catholic holyday of obligation. Ashes are distributed at Mass (12:05 and 10 p.m.), as well as at Morning Prayer (8:15 a.m.) and Evening Prayer (5 p.m.). Part of the Christian “Liturgy of the Hours,” Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer have been celebrated by Christians since the earliest days of the Church. Featured in these liturgies are psalms, scripture, intercessory prayer and song.

Morning Prayer on Ash Wednesday will not include preaching, and is intended to be a relatively brief service before the start of the day’s work or classes. Evening Prayer on Ash Wednesday, which will include a brief reflection on the day’s scripture, coincides with the setting of the sun and praises God as the light that extinguishes all darkness. Morning and Evening Prayer are ecumenical, that is inclusive of all Christians, and the order of service is similar to that found in the worship books of many Catholic and Protestant churches.

Related Information: Chaplain\'s Office