CULLMAN, Ala. – St. Bernard Abbey on Wednesday marked the beginning of the liturgical season of Lent by marking students at St. Bernard Prep School and other attendants with the sign of the cross in ashes on their foreheads. The ashes, a reminder of mortality, call the faithful to a 40-day period of reflection and penitence between Ash Wednesday and Holy Thursday leading up to the celebration of Easter.
According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, “It’s a period of preparation to celebrate the Lord’s Resurrection at Easter. During Lent, we seek the Lord in prayer by reading Sacred Scripture; we serve by giving alms; and we practice self-control through fasting. We are called not only to abstain from luxuries during Lent, but to a true inner conversion of heart as we seek to follow Christ’s will more faithfully. We recall the waters of baptism in which we were also baptized into Christ’s death, died to sin and evil, and began new life in Christ.”
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