lent – 40 days of doing good and being good

according to the catholic calendar, last Wednesday (25 feb) was ash wednesday. attending mass in church that day, we received ashes on our forehead. the priest or minister give out the ashes by tracing a cross with the ashes on our forehead, like the picture below (first pic on the left please, not the other 3!):

while tracing the cross with the ashes, the priest/minister will say “remember, man, you are dust and into dust you will return”.

there’s another version for the priest/minister to say, which i prefer. it is “turn away from sins and be faithful to the gospel“. to me this is more appropriate seeing that the ashes we received sort of serve to remind us of our sins. the former sound so… er… old and conservative!

ash wednesday and good friday are the only 2 days in the catholic calendar, that requires catholics to fast and abstain from meat. ash wednesday marks the beginning of the season of lent, which will.last for 40 days (until palm sunday, which begins holy week). during the 40 days of lent, catholics are to observe:

abstinence: no meat throughout all fridays
(but actually i already abstain from meat ALL fridays. good girl eh? 🙂 )
self denial: voluntary acts of self-denial.
(hard to keep. why i can’t deny myself of the internet!)
prayer and charity: include daily mass, scripture study, almsgiving and showing mercy and kindness to others.
(also not easy)

every fridays, during lent, all churches will be having ‘the way of the cross’ (also known as ‘stations of the cross’) where we commemorate jesus’ last journey on the way to his cruxificion. (to share in his sufferings)

during this period of lent, we are suppose to be more charitable and extra kind, loving, patient and all the likes. having said that, please have pity on me and do not test my patience ya? oh and it also doesn’t mean when i’m fired at, i won’t retaliate!
🙂