For many Christians, Ash Wednesday means start of Lent | News

Life takes on a somber tone today for Christians of several denominations represented in Schuylkill County.

For Roman Catholics and some Protestants, Ash Wednesday begins the yearly, 40-day season of Lent in which believers focus on penance and preparation for the observation of Holy Week, culminating in Easter.

The day takes its name from the practice, only observed in some churches, of placing ashes on worshippers foreheads as a reminder of mortality.

“Lent means ‘springtime,’ ” said the Rev. Laura A. Csellak, pastor of Christ’s United Lutheran Church near Gordon, referring to the Old English origin of the word. “As we engage in fasting, almsgiving and prayer, we are renewed in faith, community and service. The cross of Christ is the tree of life.”

Csellak referred to the “Discipline of Lent,” which is part of the “Lutheran Book of Worship.”

“A Handbook for the Discipline of Lent” by the Rev. Thomas L. Weitzel of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America explains Lent:

“Lent is 40 days long, counting from Ash Wednesday (and minus the six Sundays, which are little celebrations of the Resurrection). Those 40 days identify with Jesus’ 40 days of fasting and prayer in the wilderness as he prepared for his ministry; with Moses’ 40 days of fasting and prayer on Mount Sinai as he waited to receive the Law from God; and with Elijah’s 40 days of fasting and prayer on his way to Mount Horeb, the mountain of God.”

Csellak will celebrate this evening at her church for the first time, having been installed as pastor in October.

“We have imposition of ashes at our 7 p.m. worship, as do most Lutheran congregations,” she said.

Csellak said an article titled “Just Enough Real Estate” by Tim Brown in the current edition of Living Lutheran magazine is on the distribution of ashes in places other than a church setting.

“He reflects on ‘ashes on the go’ by folks who provide imposition of ashes on street corners and at bus stops,” Csellak said. “He writes, ‘I realize that the only real estate we need is that small portion of skin just above the eyes. Ash Wednesday isn’t so much about time as it is timelessness — how we are marked with the cross of Christ forever.’ In this article there is a photo of the author with his son Finn in 2014 as he smudges ashes on his toddler ‘on that small portion of skin just above the eyes.’ “

Csellak said that while the placing of ashes is done for all ages, there is something special to her when it is done on a young child.

“It always moves me as a parish pastor to place a smudge of ashes on a preschooler’s forehead,” she said. “On the one hand, it seems wrong to mark up that little one’s soft, unblemished face. Yet that little one is a ‘sinner-saint,’ as Martin Luther refers to us, as I am, and both of us ‘are dust and to dust we shall return.’ Christ alone takes us from dust to eternal life.”

Preparing ashes

On Sunday, Monsignor Edward J. O’Connor, pastor of St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church, Pottsville, prepared for Ash Wednesday with the burning of blessed palm from last year’s Palm Sunday, which became the ashes for today.

“I believe the season of Lent is a great gift from God because it allows us the opportunity every year to take a good spiritual inventory of ourselves and for our increased efforts at prayer and fasting and works of charity,” O’Connor said. “We try to go deeper for a love of God by recognizing that he first loved us. We do works of penance and recognize our weaknesses in our sins. We also have great hope because the season reminds us that God did not abandon us, but rather that Jesus came to save us. It’s a season that helps us prepare for that great event of Easter. It is a very rich time.”

St. Patrick’s will celebrate four Masses today with the distribution of ashes at 6:30 and 8 a.m., noon and 7 p.m.

O’Connor said further spiritual opportunities are available throughout the season.

“There is the participation at the Stations of the Cross. We spend time at extra prayer, the giving up of things and sacrifices, to remind ourselves that we’re centered on God,” he said. “Those kind of thoughts always come back to me as I think of the season of Lent, which means spring and rebirth. Nature all around us is coming back to life, and Lent reminds us that even though our life here is not going to be permanent, there will be new life because of our relationship with our Risen Lord. Lent really causes us to focus on that.”

Catholics are also encouraged to go to Confession during in Lent.

“That is part of our penitential spirituality at this time, too,” O’Connor said. “It is so easy to be always distracted from the spiritual life, and we’re always surrounded noise and media. We need that personal quiet time to be more reflective, which is such an important part of Lent.”

Find own way

Bob Schrepple, lay supply pastor for the Gilberton United Methodist Church and First United Methodist Church in Mahanoy City, said the United Methodist Church does not have a set of “guidelines” on how individuals should observe Lent.

The United Methodist Church website explains, “During Ash Wednesday services on the first day of Lent, many United Methodist pastors will invite their congregations ‘to observe a holy Lent: by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s Holy Word’ (from the United Methodist Book of Worship). While you may be aware of this season leading up to Easter, you may wonder how you might ‘observe a holy Lent.’

“There is no one prescribed way. Instead, we are each encouraged to find our own method of confronting our sinfulness, remembering our mortality, and giving thanks for the gift of salvation we receive through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

Schrepple will lead a worship service at the Gilberton church at 5:30 p.m. that will include the imposition of ashes. At 7:30 p.m., he will preside at the ecumenical service of the Mahanoy Area Ministerial Association at the Mahanoy City church. No ashes will be distributed at this service.

“Ash Wednesday emphasizes two themes: our sinfulness before God and our human mortality. The service focuses on both themes, helping us to realize that both have been triumphed through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

“During some Ash Wednesday services, the minister will lightly rub the sign of the cross with ashes onto the foreheads of worshipers. The use of ashes as a sign of mortality and repentance has a long history in Jewish and Christian worship. Historically, ashes signified purification and sorrow for sins.”

For Eastern Rite Catholics, the Great Lent or Great Fast began Monday, called Pure Monday or Clean Monday. In those churches, the distribution of ashes is not practiced.

Eastern Orthodox faithful will begin the Great Lent on March 11 and will celebrate Easter, known as Pascha, on Sunday, April 28.

Western Christianity, including Eastern Rite Catholics, will celebrate Easter/Pascha on April 21 due to differences in calculating when the holy day will fall.

There are some years when Easter Sunday coincides with both Eastern and Western churches.

Contact the writer: jusalis@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6023

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