Lent begins with Ash Wednesday and Kildare College began preparations for our Lenten journey by distributing pancakes on Shrove Tuesday 1 March. As Lent is a time for fasting, traditionally, pancakes were made to rid the household of all dairy products before the fast.
For Ash Wednesday, students in their Pastoral Care classes participated in an Ash Wednesday Liturgy of the Word. During this liturgy, we reflected on the significance of the Ashes (made from burning palms from the previous year’s Palm Sunday) which traditionally, in non-Covid times, is placed on the forehead. Essentially, this is done to remind us of our mortality. There is, however, more to it than just this.
Ash Wednesday also provides us with an opportunity to look beyond our mortality to a hope in God. The Ash reminds us that as mortals, one day we will return to Ash. Ash, as we know, is worthless. It has no use, and more often than not it is a hindrance. But, in God, we look to something much more hope filled. The death of Jesus is God’s way of placing a sign of significant worth and value on that which would otherwise be worthless. The Ash helps us to remember that though we are all destined to one day die physically, God has chosen to give us some other life, more than the one which leads merely to Ash. A life of eternal love.
Enrico Caprioli
APRIM
