Ash Wednesday
CHARLOTTE — Thousands of the faithful around the Diocese of Charlotte had their foreheads marked with crosses made from ashes as the 40-day season of Lent started on Wednesday, with Bishop Michael Martin urging them to use this time to embark on a transformational spiritual journey. “We’re sent out to bring the message of Jesus Christ to a world in need,” he said.
People of all ages, from school children to senior citizens, attended Ash Wednesday services, liturgies that reflected the solemn season leading up to Holy Week.
Traditional signs of the change from ordinary time to the Lenten time of repentance, prayer and contemplation included the purple vestments that priests and deacons wore and the solemn tones of hymns such as “Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days” and “Forty Days and Forty Nights.”
Heavy rains and high winds battered the region early Wednesday, but that didn’t stop people from flocking to early morning Masses to receive ashes, a sign of both mortality and repentance.
By midday, the clouds separated and sun greeted those who began their observance of Lent at later services.
More than 300 people attended a noontime Mass at St. Patrick Cathedral in Charlotte celebrated by Bishop Martin as he began his first Lenten season in the diocese.
In his homily, Bishop Martin urged people not to let the familiar traditions, sounds and images of Lent lull them into complacency and forget the urgent need to embrace conversion and bear witness to Christ’s message in the world.
He reflected on the nature of Ash Wednesday as the beginning of 40 days of spiritual transformation, of sacrifice, prayer and a refocusing of heart and soul on God.
One of his most vivid memories of childhood, he said, was seeing his father come home at midday on Good Friday. The fact his father’s workplace would let workers leave early so they could worship God on a holy day struck him, he said. He urged the congregation to reflect on the special call of Ash Wednesday that led them to take time out of their workdays in the middle of the week to have an encounter with God.
“My brothers and sisters, our God calls us today to rip apart our lives, our God calls us today to conversion of heart,” Bishop Martin said. “If all we’ve come in here today to do is to be marked with a sign and walk out the very same people, what are we doing here? Conversion is a constant call. It’s an expectation of our God to grow closer to him, and that requires steps that we must take.”
The traditions of the season are beautiful, reverent and meaningful, but he cautioned the faithful not to simply bury themselves in a “safe beautiful cocoon” and believe that is enough. The spiritual work done during Lent will mean nothing if people don’t commit to sharing Christ with others.
“Faith not shared is dead,” he cautioned.
Lent, he said, offers Catholics the chance to refocus their lives on Christ and His message, and to work to overcome the distractions and vices of daily life that can drive them away from their relationship with Him.
“The Lenten season says ‘Hey, we need 40 days of stripping away some of those distractions so that we might better be known as Jesus’ sons and daughters’,” Bishop Martin said. “Let our proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ not simply be black ashes on our forehead for the rest of the day. That’s insufficient. The Holy Spirit wants to do more in you.”
— Christina Lee Knauss, Troy C. Hull and César Hurtado
Read this! See more photos from Ash Wednesday across the diocese
