By Jacqueline Kelly –
As we begin the Holy Week, commencing with Ash Wednesday, we are called to walk with Jesus all the Way to the Cross, where he died to save us from sin and that we may rise with Him to a New Life. We will stay beside Him, the entire journey- to the Cross, the symbol of His unending Love that will roll away the stone of the tomb, leading to the New Life which is the challenge and promise of the Holy Week. This meaning of New Life is a gift of everlasting “Life with Him” in Heaven.
Lent is a special time of grace in the Church. Lent is like a desert in our life, providing the stillness we need for prayer. The liturgy highlights the need for reconciliation and the faithful practice the discipline of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Parishes organise Missions, Passover services and Stations of the Cross.
Lent the period of prayer and fasting in preparation for Easter, is 40 days long, but there are 46 days between Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent in the Roman Catholic Liturgical Calendar, and Easter.
History takes us back to the earliest days of the Church. Christ’s original disciples, who were Jewish, grew up with the idea that the Sabbath- the day of worship and of rest- was Saturday, the seventh day of the week, since the account of creation in Genesis says that God rested on the seventh day.
Christ rose from the dead, however, on Sunday, the first day of the week, and the early Christians, starting with the apostles [those original disciples], saw Christ’s Resurrection as a new creation, and so they transferred the sabbath from Saturday to Sunday.
Since all Sundays, and not simply Easter Sunday, were days to celebrate Christ’s Resurrection, Christians were forbidden to fast and do other forms of penance on those days. Therefore, when the Church expanded the period of fasting and prayer in preparation for Easter from a few days to 40 days [to showcase Christ’s fasting in the desert, before He began His public ministry], Sundays could not be included in the count.
Thus, in order for Lent to include 40 days on which fasting could occur, it had to be expanded to six full weeks [with six days of fasting in each week] plus four extra days – Ash Wednesday and the Thursday, Friday and Saturday that follow it. Six times six is thirty-six plus four equals forty. And that’s how we arrive at the 40 days of Lent.
Shrove Tuesday
Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday is also popularly known as Pancake Day or Pancake Tuesday.
In Mumbai city, Catholic mother’s wake up early and prepare pancakes for their family members. I recall my Mum would prepare colourful pancakes and roll them like cigars which were lip-smacking.
The custom of eating pancakes on that day dates from at least the 16th Century. The bell that was rung at 11 a.m. calling people to confession, was also the signal for work to stop and festivities to begin, namely frying pancakes. In many areas of England, the bell was known as the Pancake Bell!
Pancake Race
The Pancake Race is run at Olney, Buckinghamshire, England. It is said that a housewife who was making pancakes suddenly heard the bells summoning her to Church and dashed along the road with her frying pan still in her hand. That was in the 15th Century. The race now takes place just before mid-day and lasts only about a minute, though it attracts great media attention.
The housewives taking part in the race must wear an apron and a headscarf, and must toss their pancakes three times during the sprint of just 400 yards! The first to reach the church porch and the runner-up get prayer book gifts from the vicar.
Egg Shackling
Egg shackling observed by some school children in a few English villages. On Shrove Tuesday, the children take eggs with their names written on them to school. The eggs are placed in a sieve and shaken gently together. As they crack they are removed until only one remains. The winner in each class gets a small cash prize provided by an old legacy. The cracked eggs are then returned to the owners for them to make pancakes and some are sent to the local hospital.
FOOTBALL is a very popular game played during Shrovetide. Though it may have had ritual significance, evidence is lacking.
Ash Wednesday
After Christmas, the Church draws back to almost six to seven weeks to the Season of Lent. Ash Wednesday is the prelude to the coming weeks of preparation for Easter, the Resurrection of Christ.
Basically, the theme for the seven weeks is centered on the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. From Ash Wednesday, Lent begins taking us along the path of fasting, penance and prayer, in a special invitation to return to God. Ash Wednesday, initiates the period of Lent, and asks us to repent for our misdeeds and to prepare our spirit in the mystery of redemption.
Prophet Isaiah calls for repentance with ashes: “O daughter of my people, gird on sackcloth, roll in the ashes”.
In the Old Testament, Fasting was to put on sackcloth and ash as a sign or repentance. Ash Wednesday reintroduces the Christian Season of Lent, placing before us the enigma of redemption, in a way that we should meditate in its totality and undertake to participate in it.
The norm to burn palm branches from the previous Palm Sunday began in the 12th Century. Parishes often asked their members to bring their old palms before lent for a ritual burning after Mass. It was Pope Urban II who called for the use of ashes and later it was called ASH WEDNESDAY.
In Maccabees, [3:47] it is stated, ‘They fasted that day, put on sack cloth and sprinkled ashes on their heads and rent their clothes”.
In the Book of Daniel, Chapter 9:3, “Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking Him by prayer and supplications with fasting and sack cloth and ashes”.
In the Apocrypha, The Book of Sirach, Chapter 17:32, “All human beings are dust and ash”.
Ash Wednesday is the starting point for personal renewal in preparation to highlight the act of penance and reconciliation during Holy Thursday which was started by the Order of Penitents.
We open Ash Wednesday by attending the celebration of Holy Mass, and return home with ash on the forehead as a sign of our repentance.