Ash Wednesday

Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020

Location: All Parishes
Contact: Your Parish for Mass Times

See Parish Mass Times

To find an Ash Wednesday Mass in your area, click on the button above to visit a parish near you to find Mass times. Confirm schedule by calling the parish office.

Ash Wednesday begins our Lenten journey toward the celebration of Easter. Though it is not a holy day of obligation, it is a day of fast and abstinenceWe are marked with ashes, in the form of a cross, on our forehead on Ash Wednesday. Why? Father Erik Pohlmeier, diocesan director of faith formation, said the prayer offered as ashes are given answers this question. "The words are a reminder of our origins, 'Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.' The ashes and the whole season of Lent are a time to refocus on our relationship with God and that relationship starts with a dependence on God for our very existence. To recall that only with the breath of God can we have life is motivation to reorder whatever part of life needs it. As God breathed life into the dust at the beginning he can breathe new life into those who have fallen into sin. The ashes are a sign of mortality and a sign of renewal in Christ." Learn more.