Ash Wednesday, the first day of the penitential season of Lent in the Catholic Church, is always 46 days before Easter Sunday. It is a “movable” feast that is assigned a date in the calendar only after the date of Easter Sunday is calculated. How is it calculated? I’m glad you asked.
According to the norms established by the Council of Nicaea (325 AD) and later adopted for Western Christianity at the Synod of Whitby, Easter Sunday falls each year on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox. This year the vernal equinox falls on Saturday, March 20, 2021 and the first full moon after that occurs on Sunday, Mach 28th. Therefore, Easter Sunday is celebrated this year on April 4th. If you want to know the date of Ash Wednesday, just count backwards 46 days and you get February 17th. Continue reading
There was a married couple that upon reaching retirement age, the wife announced that they were going to make some changes in their life. They were going to lose weight, get in shape, and start living right so that they could enjoy their well-earned rest with a new quality of life. In no uncertain terms she announced that her husband’s standard diet of bacon, bratwursts, and beer would be replaced by diet based on bran! He was to discover the plethora of recipes based on bran. But, besides becoming quite regular, he was making a new life. In the ensuring months and years, they lost a lot of weight, became more active in life and in the parish, and had a great quality of life. 
Our gospel highlights the three spiritual practices of Lent: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. The readings all warn of not being gloomy about it all, not being ostentatious so that you’re sure to be noticed, and not to announce your generosity so that all might acknowledge your faithful giving. It calls into question not the tradition of the Lenten practices, but the meaning, intention, and purpose you assign to your practice. 
It has been a busy start to the year with lots of parish activities, lots of ministries, and… well… just lots of life. It is hard to believe that Ash Wednesday is this week marking the beginning of a penitential season for the faithful. I find that most of us have lost the core idea of “penance.” Most will answer that “penance” is the prayers and actions that the priest gives you at the end of the Sacrament of Confession. And indeed, that is true. But that is really just the “period at the end of a sentence.” The older, deeper meaning of penance might be better described as the period “at the end of chapter” in the story of one’s life. 
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