By Wendy Kachermeyer
Director of Religious Education

Grateful Sorrow is Upon Us

Wendy Kachermeyer

We begin our Lenten expedition on Wednesday March 5th with a black mark on our forehead and these or similar words “Ashes to Ashes” and we reply AMEN. This sacramental of our faith is perfectly startling for Catholics because our Amen has just set us out on a journey of contemplation. Ashes help bring us into the deepest reality of Christ on His journey to death and resurrection during this very holy, reflective, beneficial and special time of year.

Lent is a time we have very important disciplines which enable us to journey with Christ during His time in the desert. There are three special observances; abstinence, fasting and almsgiving which we follow diligently during these upcoming forty days.

• Fasting: On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday – this practice involves limiting oneself to a single full meal and avoiding food between meals. Light sustenance may be taken on two other occasions in the course of the day.
• Abstinence: Ash Wednesday and all Fridays of Lent including Good Friday – To abstain totally
  from meat.
• Almsgiving: During the whole season of Lent – to give extra – Monetarily to our parish, to the
  poor, to a food pantry etc.

Besides the above mentioned we do other things to help us struggle with Christ.

• We may add extra prayer time to our daily routine or stream line our prayer to a more focused
  attitude.
• We may give up any joyful indulgence for example: candy or desserts, smoking, drinking alcohol
  or soda pop, pizza and wings etc.
• We may ask Christ for help with growing in certain virtues for example: patients, anger,
  kindness, humility etc.
• We may attend daily Mass.

We do all of this for love of Jesus and what He has done to save our lives, We do this because we want
to grow in holiness. We do this because we need to. We do this because of the profound mystery of
Christ. We do this because we grow in knowledge of ourselves and how much we depend upon our God.

Wendy Kachermeyer is Director of Religious Education and R.C.I.A (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church, Dunkirk, NY.