Ash Wednesday (The Day of Ashes)

Ash Wednesday 2012 is on 22 February , six-and-a-half weeks before Easter.

The Christian season of Lent begins with Ash Wednesday.

The date of Ash Wednesday varies each year according to the date of Easter. It is always six-and-a-half weeks before Easter. The earliest possible date of Ash Wednesday is 4 February and the latest possible date is 10 March.

Ash Wednesday is a Christian festival. It marks the beginning of six and a half weeks of repentance, fasting and abstinence in preparation for the most important Christian festival of Easter.

In 2012 Ash Wednesday will be on 22 February.

2009 — 25 February

2010 — 17 February

2011 — 9 March

2012 — 22 February

2013 — 13 February

2014 — 5 March

2015 — 18 February

2016 — 10 February

2017 — 1 March

2018 — 14 February

Ashes are something that are left when something is burned. Ashes are a symbol of being sorry for things they have done wrong and want to get rid of forever. It is also a reminder to them that we all come from ashes, and to ashes we all will return.

The marking on the forehead with ash marks the commitment to Jesus Christ and God. They wanted to show God that they were sorry for the wrong things they had done in the past year.

Using a mark on the forehead as a sign of commitment is also used in many Middle Eastern cultures where a round, coloured circle is marked on the forehead.

Many Christians will attend a religious service where the ashes are blessed by the church leader, and placed on their forehead.

Christians believe this marks the physical and spiritual beginning of a personal Lent season in which 40 days of repentance will begin leading up to the celebration of Easter Sunday. The actual moment when the forehead is marked initiates the beginning of lent for each individual person.

In churches the priest first burns the palm that have been kept from last year's Palm Sunday and then mixes the ashes of these crosses with holy water (which has been blessed) to make a greyish paste. When people go to church on Ash Wednesday, the priest dips his thumb in the paste and uses it to make the sign of the cross on each person's forehead. 

Palm Sunday celebrates Jesus's triumphant entry into Jerusalem, so when the crosses used in the last years Palm Sunday service are converted to ashes, worshippers are reminded that defeat and crucifixion swiftly followed triumph.

Using ashes to mark the cross on the believer's forehead symbolises that through Christ's death and resurrection, all Christians can be free from sin.

Dec 17, Invitatory for Saturday of the Third Week of Advent

Lord, open my lips.

– And my mouth will proclaim your praise.

The Lord is close at hand; come let us worship him.

Psalm 95

Come, let us sing to the Lord
and shout with joy to the Rock who saves us.
Let us approach him with praise and thanksgiving
and sing joyful songs to the Lord.

The Lord is God, the mighty God,
the great king over all the gods.
He holds in his hands the depths of the earth
and the highest mountains as well
He made the sea; it belongs to him,
the dry land, too, for it was formed by his hands.

Come, then, let us bow down and worship,
bending the knee before the Lord, our maker,
For he is our God and we are his people,
the flock he shepherds.

Today, listen to the voice of the Lord:
Do not grow stubborn, as your fathers did
in the wilderness,
when at Meriba and Massah
they challenged me and provoked me,
Although they had seen all of my works.

Forty years I endured that generation.
I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray
and they do not know my ways.”
So I swore in my anger,
“They shall not enter into my rest.”

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,

and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now,
and will be for ever. Amen.

The Lord is close at hand; come let us worship him.

MASS READINGS for today, December 16, 2011(Friday of the Third Week of Advent)

Book of Isaiah 56:1-3a.6-8.

Thus says the LORD: Observe what is right, do what is just; for my salvation is about to come, my justice, about to be revealed.

Happy is the man who does this, the son of man who holds to it; Who keeps the sabbath free from profanation, and his hand from any evildoing.

And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, ministering to him, Loving the name of the LORD, and becoming his servants-- All who keep the sabbath free from profanation and hold to my covenant,

Them I will bring to my holy mountain and make joyful in my house of prayer; Their holocausts and sacrifices will be acceptable on my altar, For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.

Thus says the Lord GOD, who gathers the dispersed of Israel: Others will I gather to him besides those already gathered.

Psalms 67(66):2-3.5.7-8.

May God be gracious to us and bless us; may God's face shine upon us. Selah

So shall your rule be known upon the earth, your saving power among all the nations.

May the nations be glad and shout for joy; for you govern the peoples justly, you guide the nations upon the earth. Selah

The earth has yielded its harvest; God, our God, blesses us.

May God bless us still; that the ends of the earth may revere our God.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 5:33-36.

You sent emissaries to John, and he testified to the truth.

I do not accept testimony from a human being, but I say this so that you may be saved.

He was a burning and shining lamp, and for a while you were content to rejoice in his light.

But I have testimony greater than John's. The works that the Father gave me to accomplish, these works that I perform testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me.

Word for Today : (Solemnity of ALL THE SAINTS, known and unknown)

MASS READINGS for today, November 1, 2011 


(Solemnity of ALL THE SAINTS, known and unknown)

FIRST READING - Revelation 7: 2 - 4, 9 - 14

2 Then I saw another angel ascend from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea,
3 saying, "Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God upon their foreheads."
4 And I heard the number of the sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand sealed, out of every tribe of the sons of Israel,
9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,
10 and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb!"
11 And all the angels stood round the throne and round the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,
12 saying, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God for ever and ever! Amen."
13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, "Who are these, clothed in white robes, and whence have they come?"
14 I said to him, "Sir, you know." And he said to me, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 

*****

PSALM - Psalms 24: 1 - 6

1 The earth is the LORD's and the fulness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein;
2 for he has founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the rivers.
3 Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place?
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false, and does not swear deceitfully.
5 He will receive blessing from the LORD, and vindication from the God of his salvation.
6 Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. [Selah] 

*****

SECOND READING - 1 John 3: 1 - 3

1 See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
2 Beloved, we are God's children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
3 And every one who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. 

*****

GOSPEL - Matthew 5: 1 - 12

1 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down his disciples came to him.
2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
10 "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 "Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you.