“Furthermore, the family, like the Church, ought to be a place where the Gospel is transmitted and from which the Gospel radiates. In a family which is conscious of this mission, all the members evangelize and are evangelized. The parents not only communicate the Gospel to their children, but from their children they can themselves receive the same Gospel as deeply lived by them. And such a family becomes the evangelizer of many other families, and of the neighborhood of which it forms part.”
-Evangelii Nuntiandi (Evangelization in the Modern World), 71
Forty is a significant number in Scripture – a number of preparation.
Likewise, each year we are invited to spend the 40 days of Lent in preparation for the great feast of Easter!
Did you know:
To help you get a sense of how big the Catholic Church is, consider the following statistics on the Church in America from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops:
Imagine all these people dedicating their lives to Christ and the Church He established on earth! Isn’t it fantastic to be part of that?
Why do we get ashes on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday?
It seems like an odd custom, but it’s not uncommon to see more Catholics at church on Ash Wednesday than you will at an average Sunday Mass. I’ve heard it explained that the biggest crowds show up for the free stuff (offered on Ash Wednesday and Palm Sunday), but I hope there is a deeper purpose.
The symbolic use of ashes in worship has a long history that goes back into the Old Testament. The king of Nineveh sat in ashes to show his repentant response to Jonah’s message (Jonah 3:6), and Mordecai wore sackcloth and ashes as a sign of mourning before he was rescued by Queen Esther’s brave actions (Esther 4:1). Abraham showed his humility before the Lord by saying “I am nothing but dust and ashes” (Genesis 18:27), and Job likewise compares his existence to “dust and ashes” (Job 30:19). The residents of Jerusalem sprinkled their heads with ashes as they prayed for the Lord’s protection (Judith 4:1 and 4:15), as did the Maccabees as they prepared for battle (Maccabees 3:47).
The themes here are obvious: humility, repentance, mourning, and supplication. What better way for us to begin Lent than by echoing these attitudes that we are completely dependent on God, and are nothing compared to His glorious perfection? Lent is the time to recognize our true selves and acknowledge that we could likely be doing better. No matter how “special” society tells us we are, deep down we recognize ourselves as being in need of a Savior.
It’s interesting to note that no matter what we deserve, the Lord doesn’t leave us in the ashes and this is generously reflected in the day’s readings.
Return to me, says the Lord, your God. For gracious and merciful is he, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment.
Have mercy on me, God, in your goodness; in your abundant compassion blot out my offense.
Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
Even in the midst of our nothingness, God tenderly lifts us up and invites us to come back to Him. We need to be reminded of that. There is more than one free gift given in the Ash Wednesday liturgy; we receive ashes, but we also receive abundant graces through prayer and especially through the Eucharist. Those are gifts that will truly make a difference in your life this Lent.
Why don’t we say “Alleluia” during Lent?
It may have gone unnoticed at Mass today, but this was the last Sunday we’ll be singing or saying the word “Alleluia” until Easter Vigil. Alleluia is the song sung by the angels in heaven, but before Christ’s saving work was accomplished on the cross, it was not possible for us to join them there. ”Burying” the Alleluia is the Church’s way of remembering that reality.
Lent is the season of deprivation; we give up earthly joys in union with Christ’s own suffering and to help us grow in the self-discipline we need to live a holy life. Living without something that is beloved makes us long for it, and you may well notice that with the absence of the praises of Alleluia this Lent. The great thing is that we know how the story ends, and the anticipation of it’s return in seven weeks will make the song seem brand new once again on Easter morning!
Until then, shhhhh on the “A” word!
This week as we learn about our connection to the Universal Church, adults and older saints may be interested in checking out what’s available at the Vatican’s official web site.
Among the thousands of documents there, you can also find
At this point, I was about to warn you how cumbersome the site’s search engine is and how to get around that, but when I tried it to add a specific example I found they have vastly improved it! (Hooray!) It used to be that searching for a document like JPII’s Letter to Artists would yield a long list of press releases, speeches, and other documents where it was referenced in no apparent order, making it extremely difficult to find the actual document. Now, the actual document comes up as first on the list of 153 places it’s referenced on the site. That was surprisingly easy! (In the past, I’d just go to google or yahoo, type in the document name, and then just click on the vatican.va link to it.)
‘The Triregnum (the Papal Tiara formed by three crowns symbolizing the triple power of the Pope: father of kings, governor of the world and Vicar of Christ) from the XVIII Century, with which the bronze statue of Saint Peter is crowned every June 29th, the feast day of the Saint.Use of the Tiara, a ritual during solemn ceremonies, was abandoned during the Papacy of Paul VI.The Tiara is a headdress ending in an ogive and made of silver, and during the times of Boniface VIII two crowns were added, and from 1314 three crowns (the reason it is called the triregnum), topped by a small globe with a golden cross.Among the various interpretations, we shall mention the one that says that the three crowns represent the militant, the suffering and the triumphant Church.The shape of the Triregnum varied throughout the years. We may find it represented as more or less rounded, in some cases without the globe and the cross. At times there is a modified position of the ribbons (two ribbons with a patent cross hanging).
You've probably seen the papal tiara along with the keys of St. Peter in the coat of arms of the popes.
The tiara is also featured on Vatican City's flag.
Each year on June 29, this famous statue of Saint Peter is crowned with a papal tiara.
A replica statue of Michelangelo’s Pietà will be unveiled for public view on February 17, just before the 7:30 a.m. Ash Wednesday Mass.
The Ash Wednesday unveiling kicks off the statue’s nation-wide tour. Created with Vatican consent by Nevada-based limited liability company Vescovo Buonarroti Art, it’s one of four Pietà replicas traveling the globe.
An Italian artist, Michelangelo Buonarroti carved his Pietà from marble in 1499, when he was 25 years old. It was the first of three Pietàs he created; the other two are considered unfinished. Always depicting a scene of Mary with the crucified Christ after his deposition, the pietà — Italian for “pity” — was popular in Medieval and Renaissance Christian imagery.
Steven Bishop, owner of Vescovo Buonarroti Art, said that the statue’s nationwide tour is starting at the Cathedral because it is “the most beautiful cathedral in the country.”
You can read more in this week’s Catholic Spirit.
Matt Brounstein
Sue Klejeski
Molly Koop
