Lent begins with a reminder of what and whose we are

Father Anthony Chandler, vicar for priests and director of the Office of Priest Personnel, smudged ashes on the forehead of a woman who attended Mass at the Cathedral of the Assumption on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 14. (Record Photo by Kayla Bennett)

Ash Wednesday is a reminder of what we are, and Lent is a reminder of whose we are, Archbishop Shelton J. Fabre said during the noon Ash Wednesday Mass at the Cathedral of the Assumption in downtown Louisville Feb. 14.

“Ash Wednesday reminds us of what we are — ashes and dust, sinners all,” he said during his homily. “But Lent reminds us of whose we are. Who is it that claims ownership of us: The living God.”

Though “we are but dust and ashes and sinners,” he noted, we can allow our penitential practices during Lent “to be an indication of our desire to deepen our relationship with Christ.”

The Cathedral of the Assumption in downtown Louisville drew Catholics from around the archdiocese on Ash Wednesday. Justin Gooch, a St. Margaret Mary Church parishioner, received ashes during noon Mass. (Record Photo by Kayla Bennett)

Archbishop Fabre told the congregation, “My dear friends, none of us is going to do that perfectly, but God rejoices in any effort we make to return to him.”

In closing, he prayed that the 40 days of Lent might serve as a reminder and an opportunity.

A reminder that we are “Sons and daughters of the living God, who loves us regardless of our unworthiness.”
An opportunity “to return to the love of God so that we might rejoice again as brothers and sisters of the risen Christ.”