If you see someone walking on campus Wednesday with a black smudge on his or her forehead, put the tissue back in your pocket.
Roman Catholics across the globe are celebrating the first day of the Lenten season, known as Ash Wednesday. On this day Christians can receive ashes to remind them of their mortality, launching into the 40-day period before Easter Sunday.
Father Tom Farrell, pastor of the UK Newman Center on Rose Lane, said Ash Wednesday begins the long season of prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and other acts of self-sacrifice and service.
“Catholics in general utilize Ash Wednesday as a day to repent of sin, and to recommit themselves both to the Gospel and to the life within the Church,†Farrell said.
Catholics are called to fast and repent, remembering the 40 days Jesus Christ spent in the wilderness fighting temptation. Throughout Lent, Catholics are encouraged to abstain from something of their choosing, a kind of personal fast. Andy Luckett is still trying to decide what he will go without during Lent.
“Someone said they were giving up hot water,†said Luckett, a biology senior. “And some people are giving up going out to eat.â€
Wednesday, Catholics are invited to fast from food and refrain from eating meat as an “act of repentance for any way in which we have fallen short of the life to which the Gospel calls us,†Farrell said.
Ash Wednesday is also a time of reflection.
“I try getting in the habit of making myself aware of the sacrifices that Jesus made while he was in the desert,†UK philosophy senior Kristen Svarczkopf said.
The UK Newman Center will hold Liturgy of the Word and Ash Distribution services at 9 a.m. and 10 p.m. and celebrate Mass at 12:10 and 5:30 p.m. Minister with Students Kevin Steele said throughout the day, a few thousand students would come through the Newman Center to attend Ash Wednesday services.
“All Catholic churches have a big day tomorrow,†Steele said. â€A lot of people come to worship on Ash Wednesday.â€
Other Catholic churches in the Lexington area are also providing Masses and Ash Distribution services. Cathedral of Christ the King, located on Colony Boulevard, will have Mass at 6 and 8 a.m. and 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. Mary Queen of the Holy Rosary Church, on the corner of Clays Mill and Hill N Dale roads, will celebrate Mass at 6:30 and 8:15 a.m. and 6:15 and 7:45 p.m.
Laura, Lent is not a Catholic exclusive. It would have been better if you had expanded your reseach and included the other local churches, i.e. Episcopal, Lutheran and other liturgical churches who observe Ash Wednesday and Lent. Also St Augustines, a combined Episcopal and Lutheran Chapel is located on the University campus, just up the street from the Newman Center.
Catholics aren’t the only ones who observe link, but I wouldn’t expect the Kernel to have a clue