Marian held an all campus mass in the BCMC to celebrate Ash Wednesday at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 22. On this day, Catholics and Christians will begin the Lenten season with fasting and prayer. 

Ash Wednesday takes place 46 days before Easter Sunday. Catholics use this day to remember and mourn the division sin has caused between humans and God. This grief is symbolized through the ashes Catholics wear on their forehead. A reminder that we are dust and will be dust again. 

During Marian’s mass, Father Barry proclaimed in his homily ideas and reminders to the congregation about how Catholics are called to act in this Lenten season. The fasting that Catholics do should be focused on almsgiving, doing good within the community.  

When you give up something or fast from something, Father Barry said God calls His people to do those things in secret. Do not seek praise from others so that God alone can reword you. Lent is a personal journey. 

After the homily the whole congregation received the ashes on their forehead. 

The priest said as he applied the ashes, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Emily Tayler, a senior in social work, said after the mass ended that Lent, it is the time to give to others in service. To seek a deeper connection to God through fasting, almsgiving and service and with these things to center yourself in Christ. 

“I think [Ash Wednesday] is a wonderful time to enter into our Lenten session and take that time to reflect on Jesus’s sacrifice for us… to get closer to Christ in a way that you haven’t before and I think that’s really special,” Tayler said.