Ash Wednesday

Today is the start of Lent. It is Ash Wednesday.

Yesterday was Fat Tuesday, where everyone pigged out (no pun intended). Well, maybe most. I figured that some folks would eat up on all the white and red meat they can devour before Lent kicked in. For practicing Catholics (repeat -- practicing), Lent meant sacrifice, which include fasting and abstaining from eating meat on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and abstaining every Friday during Lent. For the non-practicing, they couldn't care less.

Catholics around the world flocked to churches to celebrate the beginning of Lent, by having ash placed on their foreheads, as the priest uttered "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel." In the past, another variation was "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." And for the next 40 days, the faithful perform acts of penance and modest mortification "to cleanse and to purify their body and soul."

I am fortunate that I have the Cathedral of Christ the Light right behind my office. As the clock struck 12:00, I headed there. As expected, the Cathedral was full, but not packed. It certainly was more than the usual crowd on an ordinary day, considering that Ash Wednesday is not considered a holy day of obligation (did you know that?).

The Diocese of Oakland does not have a bishop. Pope Benedict XVI appointed then Bishop Salvatore Cordileone to the Archdiocese of San Francisco. The Pope then appointed Archbishop Alex Burnett, archbishop emeritus of Seattle, as Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Oakland. In lay man's term, Bishop Cordileone was moved to San Francisco, and retired Archbishop Burnett took his place in Oakland, while the Pope is deciding on the next Bishop of Oakland.

The mass today was celebrated by Archbishop Burnett, along with 3 other priests who co-celebrated the mass with him. Dressed in purple, the color of Lent, the ceremony was solemn and the atmosphere was somber. With a sizable community in attendance, the application of the ash and the distribution of Holy Communion went fairly quickly, with a fair number of priests and lay ministers administering them.

After the final blessing, and with ash on my forehead, I quietly headed out, and back to the office.

(Author would like to acknowledge the Huffington Post for the photograph used in this post.)