The word “Lent” comes from an Old English word meaning springtime and this is what Lent should be for us. In the spring, farmers prepare and plant their fields. They will tend to those fields with care over the long summer, looking forward to the harvest.
In the same way we can use Lent to prepare our souls.
The ashes imposed on us today, remind us that our entire Christian life should be marked by works of self-denial and generosity. What is important is that through prayer and good works we allow God’s grace to bring about our interior conversion.
– Mary Elizabeth Sperry
_ Fr. Anscar J. Chupungco, OSB
