Ash Wednesday at Thomas Aquinas College

The Lenten season has arrived. While the work of Thomas Aquinas College continues as usual, both campuses have taken on a reflective, penitent calm. The meal crowds are notably smaller as the community maintains a spirit of solemn fasting; and at the College’s multiple daily Masses, the chapels are packed with students and tutors, preparing their hearts and minds for the death and resurrection of Christ.  

“On Ash Wednesday, people go about with a more intense feeling of solemnity, and become more aware of how they treat each other,” said Elaine Grimm (CA’28). “These 40 days as a whole make people think more about what they say, and what they do.”  

In his homily for New England’s Extraordinary Form Mass, Head Chaplain Rev. Greg Markey recalled the words used earlier in the distribution: “Remember that thou art dust, and unto dust shalt thou return.” We are a people exiled and cast out, from the dust and ourselves no more than the dust. “These next 40 days,” he said, “we follow our Lord into the desert and endure this time of penance. We must begin the season with confidence in the mercy of our Lord, and confidence that Our Lady will intercede for us.” 

Today, Catholics wear their ashen crosses on their foreheads, which serve as a call to humility and a testament to their sin and mortality. “We are approaching the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, by His death, conquered death. It’s a good reminder of the message of the Gospel: that conquering of the fear of death,” reflected Gage Wegner (CA’27). “It’s a chance for the Church to place us into that headspace that we will die one day; but that, because of the Resurrection, it’s not permanent.”  

Remarked Enzo Giovinazzi (NE’26): “Lent is a time to contemplate your life in eternity. If you were to die now, do you think you have lived a life worthy of beatitude?”

More Ash Wednesday photos from New England ...

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... and California!