When the Priest puts the holy emblem of penance upon you, accept, in a spirit of submission, the sentence of Death, which God himself pronounces against you:
Meménto, homo, quia pulvis es, et in púlverem revertéris!
Remember man, that thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return!
Humble yourself, and remember what it was that brought the punishment of Death upon us: —man wished to be as a god, and preferred his own will to that of his Sovereign Master.
Reflect, too, on that long list of sins, which you have added to the sin of your First Parents, and adore the mercy of your God, who asks only one death for all these your transgressions.
The Liturgical Year by Dom Gueranger
Mass Schedule
6:30 am English with Distribution of Ashes
12:10 pm English with Distribution of Ashes
6:30 pm Latin with Distribution of Ashes
Ash Wednesday is a day of obligatory abstinence and fasting.
Fast & Abstinence
Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are obligatory days of fasting and abstinence for Catholics.
In addition, Fridays during Lent are obligatory days of abstinence.
For members of the Latin Catholic Church, the norms on fasting are obligatory from age 18 until age 59. When fasting, a person is permitted to eat one full meal, as well as two smaller meals that together are not equal to a full meal. The norms concerning abstinence from meat are binding upon members of the Latin Catholic Church from age 14 onwards.
If possible, the fast on Good Friday is continued until the Easter Vigil (on Holy Saturday night) as the "paschal fast" to honor the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus and to prepare ourselves to share more fully and to celebrate more readily his Resurrection.
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Abstinence
Applies on one’s 7th birthday
Complete Abstinence: all Fridays of the year, Ash Wednesday, Holy Saturday, and the Vigil of Christmas
Partial Abstinence (meat and soup or gravy made from meat permitted once a day at the principal meal): all the days of Lent, the Ember Days of Wednesday and Saturday, and the Vigils of Pentecost and the Assumption
Abstinence from meat is dispensed on Holy Days of Obligation
Fasting
Applies for those aged 21 to 59, inclusive.
Days of Lent from Ash Wednesday inclusive, Ember Days, and Vigils of Christmas, Pentecost, and the Assumption.
One full meal permitted and two other meals may be taken which, when combined, are less than a full meal.
Symbolism of Ashes
The Liturgical Year by Dom Gueranger
Symbol of humiliation and penance
Job, though a Gentile, sprinkled his flesh with ashes that, thus humbled, he might propitiate the divine mercy (Job 16:16)
The Royal Prophet… mingled Ashes with his bread, because of the divine anger and indignation (Psalm 101:10)
…how could [fallen man] more aptly express his contrite acceptance of the sentence, than by sprinkling himself with Ashes…, which is the dust of wood consumed by fire? This earnest acknowledgement of his being himself, but Dust and Ashes, is an act of humility.
An instrument of our sanctification
The Ashes are made from the Palms, which were blessed the previous Palm Sunday
The Blessing they are now to receive in this their new form, is given in order that they may be made more worthy of that mystery of contrition and humility, which they are intended to symbolize
The Priest… begs of God… that he would make them an instrument of our sanctification.
…the Priest sprinkles the ashes with holy water, and censes them.
Lent Begins
Our Lord Jesus Christ, directly after His baptism, prepared Himself for His public life and mission by a fast of forty days in the desert, which extends from Jericho to the Mountains of Judea.
Let us prepare ourselves by fast, prayers, and works of charity for the solemn Feast of Easter.
Marian Antiphon for Lent
Ave Regina Caelorum
Hail, O Queen of Heaven.
Hail, O Lady of Angels
Hail! thou root, hail! thou gate
From whom unto the world a light has arisen:
Rejoice, O glorious Virgin,
Lovely beyond all others,
Farewell, most beautiful maiden,
And pray for us to Christ.
Ave, Regina caelorum,
Ave, Domina Angelorum:
Salve, radix, salve, porta
Ex qua mundo lux est orta:
Gaude, Virgo gloriosa,
Super omnes speciosa,
Vale, o valde decora,
Et pro nobis Christum exora
More learning
Dive into The Interior Life
What is the paschal mystery?
The Last Things: Death, Judgment, Heaven & Hell
Examination of Conscience
Confession Times