I just can't hide it

It's probably not appropriate to say Happy Ash Wednesday. The whole nature of the season is focused around prayer, fasting, service and charity in preparation for Holy Week. The fourty days of Lent are meant to provide a period of reflection and study representing the time Jesus spent in the desert before taking up his ministry. If you've counted you know that Lent is longer than fourty days. The six Sundays are not counted because they are feast days celebrating Jesus' victory over temptation and death.

Liturgical Christians: Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican and Methodists, usually observe Lent by sacrificing something they enjoy, or find difficult to give up for fourty days. Some also observe days of fasting and abstinance on specific days. For Roman Catholics that means eating lightly and refraining from eating meat other than fish. It seems like we can thank Thomas Aquinas for that one. He argued that fish was less enjoyable and nourishing than other meats that provided "a greater surplus available for seminal matter, which when abundant becomes a great incentive to lust." According to Thomas eating fish promotes chastity and the tradition stuck.

In the Catholic tradition, Lent is also the time of preparation for new members to join the church. Tomorrow, Ash Wednesday, begins an ancient and fascinating process of preparation to become Catholic. So, to begin, we'll go to the church and receive ashes. I remember being in 8th grade and a friend came into class late with a smudge on her forehead, being a good bud I reached up to wipe it off for her. She almost knocked me down grabbing my hand before I touched her head. It was my first encounter with Ash Wednesday. Tomorrow will be my second. I'll try not to let it show I'm happy about Ash Wednesday and will let you know how it goes.