Humans have been trying to escape earth’s limits since the citizens of Babel built a tower to the sky (Genesis 11:1-9), and like them, we are often brought down by those efforts. We too often live for the exultant moments – the dazzling transfiguration of Jesus, celebrated on the Sunday before Ash Wednesday, the bright joy of Easter and the powerful surge of Pentecost, which is followed Ordinary Time – forgetting that glory lives adjacent to the mundane. These ashes contain vestiges of Jesus’ lauded entry into Jerusalem that began a week in which he was arrested and executed, only to triumph over death in resurrection. Traditionally the ashes are made by burning the palms from the previous Palm Sunday. The ashes Christians use to mark our foreheads remind us that we are made of dust and will return to dust. Lent is a season for humility, beginning with the most humble of days, Ash Wednesday. Our lives are a meeting place of earth and heaven, and we bounce between humility and hubris. The slip in one pocket read, “You are nothing but dust and ashes,” and the slip in the other read, “The world was created for you.” We humans are creatures of the dust who are enlivened by the breath of God and created in God’s image. Additional photos from this Mass are available here.There’s an ancient Jewish tale about a rabbi who carried two slips of paper in his pockets. Main photo: Cardinal Vincent imposing ashes on choristers in Westminster Cathedral (Mazur/). For Westminster Cathedral times, please see their website. For further information, please check individual parish and chaplaincy websites. Throughout Lent, additional devotions, including the Stations of the Cross, take place at various parishes and chaplaincies. The university chaplaincies were particularly well-served, with Bishop Nicholas Hudson celebrating the 5.30pm Mass at Newman House, the Catholic chaplaincy at the University of London, where some 300 students attended Mass throughout the day, Bishop John Sherrington celebrating the lunchtime Mass at the LSE Faith Centre, and Bishop John Wilson celebrating the evening Mass at Brunel University. In addition to parish churches and schools, Ash Wednesday Masses were held in a variety of locations, such as hospital and hospice chaplaincies, and university and college chaplaincies. After the homily, the choir accompanied the imposition of ashes with the singing of Allegri's Miserere. His homily focused on the call to grow in holiness through prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Cardinal Vincent was the principal celebrant at the 5.30pm Mass. 'Remember you are dust and unto dust you shall return' was heard around the diocese on Ash Wednesday, 1 st March, as Catholics flocked to Mass to receive ashes on their foreheads and thus begin the season of Lent.Īll Masses at Westminster Cathedral were very well attended, and the queues for confession were full throughout the day.
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