CHARLOTTE — Bishop Michael Martin, OFM Conv., challenged people gathered for an evening Ash Wednesday Mass at St. John Neumann Church to embark on a Lenten journey that brings them closer to Jesus and then leads them out to share His love with others.
The Mass came at the end of a day during which thousands of people across the diocese marked the start of Lent by receiving ashes on their foreheads as a visible reminder of the season’s call to repentance and sacrifice.
The pews in St. John Neumann Church were overflowing with more than 600 people who came to hear the bishop’s message and to begin their Lenten pilgrimages.
It was Bishop Martin’s first large public Mass since he invited people to engage in a pastoral vision for the diocese he introduced the weekend of Feb. 14-15: “Everyone so loves Jesus, we share Him with others.” Echoing the vision statement’s call to embrace active discipleship, he encouraged the crowd to use their Lenten journeys as the first step on that path.
Bishop Martin started his homily by talking about how the convenience of GPS makes a journey easier, but can leave users unable to find their way on their own. He compared that with how many people make their way through Lent.
“I think Catholics during Lent know how to get there, but they don’t know where they’re going,” he said. “I invite you to just consider for a moment where you want to be 40 days from now.
“Where do you want to be in your journey with Jesus Christ? Where do you want to be in your relationship with others? Where do you want to be as a person beautifully, wonderfully made, loved by God but flawed by sin?”
The bishop encouraged people to do more than walk through the traditions of Lent in the same old manner, but to consider what purpose Christ might have in mind for them this season.
“Too many of us have already selected Lenten penances that will do nothing to get us to that destination,” Bishop Martin said. “Some of you might say, ‘I always give up chocolate.’ That is great when you’re in fourth grade, but it doesn’t work when you’re 40 … We’re here about following the call. We’re here about appreciating that Jesus has a destination for us that is greater than we could even imagine. We need to commit ourselves to picking out a place on the horizon, picking out some vision of ourselves that God inspires us to. Jesus is calling each and every one of us to learn how to use the Lenten instructions of prayer, fasting and almsgiving to get us there.”
Bishop Martin’s message summed up a day when new and old Lenten traditions were practiced around the diocese. Priests wore purple vestments at Masses where ashes were marked on foreheads as a symbol of penance and a reminder of mortality. People fasted and abstained from eating meat as a reminder of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and the season’s theme of sacrifice and repentance.
Earlier in the day, children at Our Lady of the Asumption Scool in Charlotte took part in “Burying the Alleluia,” a custom that dates back to the fifth century in France. Since the use of the word “Alleluia” is suspended during Masses from Shrove Tuesday until the Easter Vigil, French choirs would hold mock funerals for a scroll emblazoned with the word. Today, children write the word on a banner or poster that is then buried in the church yard for the 40 solemn days of Lent. The box is dug up and the “Alleluia” restored to the liturgy amid the joy of Easter Sunday.
At Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Monroe, Father Benjamin Roberts encouraged parishioners to take on a new Lenten tradition he called, “Bring, pray, give.” He asked them to bring a non-perishable food item, pray for those who would receive it, and then give the item to the food drive, a practice that encapsulates both the spirit of the season and the bishop’s call to share Jesus’ love with others.
— Christina Lee Knauss. Photos by Troy C. Hull
