Some ashes on Wednesday

March 02, 2022

‘In our Lenten journey towards Easter, let us remember the One who ‘humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross,’ Pope Francis

Today is Ash Wednesday, as the Holy week is next month. ( holiday yay!)

It's also a Holy day for fasting and abstinence or the no meat day.

I totally forgot it earlier not until it was lunchtime, then I remember that we were supposed to not have meat today so we ordered fish instead.

check out my amazing sponsors...

Ever since I was a kid, it's a tradition that everyone knows whenever Lenten season is in the corner. The thought of having ashes marked on your forehead as sign that you are repenting and fasting to sympathize with the journey of Jesus to give us our salvation.

We sign with a cross –ashes on our foreheads to remind us that there is a part of ourselves that is of this earth and that one day will return to dust.

There are these occasion during Lenten season that always makes me want to look forward on it the next year, it's the Easter celebration. Holy week also is a long holiday like Christmas and New Year. Before when I was a kid I love those breaks for I get to sleep a lot and watch some anime on repeat.

But let's not talk about the Holy week for it's Ash Wednesday today.

I didn't get to have ashes on my forehead for we were too busy with work and we attended the online mass at 5pm so it's kinda late already. But I will still go with my usual devotion to fast for forty days .

Lent

Lent [is a liturgical season that] is ordered to preparing for the celebration of Easter, since the Lenten liturgy prepares for celebration of the paschal mystery both catechisms, by the various stages of Christian initiation, and the faithful, who recall their own Baptism and do penance.

Source

Lenten season last for forty days and forty night so it will start today March 2, 2022 which is the Ash Wednesday and will end after the Holy Mass of the Lord's Last Supper, April 14, 2022 (Holy Thursday)

Pope Benedict explained this way:

 Lent recalls the forty days of our Lord’s fasting in the desert, which He undertook before entering into His public ministry. We read in the Gospel: “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry” (Mt 4,1-2). Like Moses, who fasted before receiving the tablets of the Law (cf. Ex 34,28) and Elijah’s fast before meeting the Lord on Mount Horeb (cf. 1 Kings19,8), Jesus, too, through prayer and fasting, prepared Himself for the mission that lay before Him, marked at the start by a serious battle with the tempter

Source

Before I couldn't understand why we have to do fasting for forty days, but now I realized it after much reading the Bible and also other Christian books regarding the 40days journey of Christ.

As I have observed that during Lenten season only those adults who has no need medical attention can perform it.

Fasting and abstinence

Most people fast prior to medical check up the next day. This 40days fasting not only talk about what to not eat or to control the food you need to eat during the period. You can also considered about minimizing you're usual activity, this can include lesser mobile usage, lesser reading books, lesser intake of coffee, lesser overworking. It means that you can fast not just on food but you can also fast on some of your usual activities that you can't skip for a day.

Abstinence also, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are the two important days for abstinence(no meat, one meal a day). Aside from that you can also skip for a day on your daily activity. Like skip socializing for a day, skip playing online games for a day(let your phone rest).

Repentance/Meditate

It's also the season to repent and recall all the mistakes you've done or the things you should've done. Remember when we attend Holy Mass the Priest would say "Let us call to mind our sins" and this would be our response

I confess to Almighty God,
and to you my brothers and sisters,
that I have greatly sinned,
in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and what I have failed to do.

As of writing, I am doing a checking on the sins I have committed or the lapses I made that I need to confess to the priest and to ask for forgiveness.(and I listed above ten already, aigoooo!)

Lenten season is also the time to meditate and bask in the thought that there is one person whom is willing to risk His own life just for you to be saved. By that thought, it will motivate you to do good and to not act according to your emotions all the time.

Without going to the church to have an ashes marked on your forehead you can still fast this Lenten season. Imagining the journey of Christ up to his death and resurrection is a new and refreshing kind of thought once a year.

Stay safe!
@mommykim