AUBURN - Worshippers attending an Ash Wednesday service and receiving the blessed mark of an ash cross on their foreheads were not doing so to be seen by fellow worshippers but to remind and encourage others to focus on the things that last: God and relationships with loved ones, said the Rev. Frank Lioi of St. Mary's Church.
Jason Rearick / The Citizen
U.S. Rep. Michael Arcuri chuckles with one of his constituents during the open house at his new office at 17 E. Genesee St., Auburn.
U.S. Rep. Michael Arcuri chuckles with one of his constituents during the open house at his new office at 17 E. Genesee St., Auburn.
“With ashes on our foreheads, each of us serves as an image of Christ to one another and thereby we support and reinforce one another as we begin our Lenten journey of prayer, fasting and alms-giving,” Lioi said in his homily during the 12:05 p.m. Wednesday service at the Clark Street church.
Parishioners were asked to bring in their old palm leaves from last year's Palm Sunday. The church burned them in a metal barrel Tuesday before preparing the ashes for Wednesday's ministry. The Lenten season continues until Holy Thursday, three days before Easter.
“It's just a time to reflect on why we became Catholics and why we come here every week,” said Carole Sarofeen, of Skaneateles, following the service.
Lent provides a “deeper spiritual meaning on how to be a Christian,” she added.
In the earliest days of Christianity, Lent originated as period of time for new converts to prepare for baptism on Easter and to parallel the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert to prepare for ministry, Lioi said.
In contemporary times, it has become an opportunity for the already baptized to prepare to renew their baptismal promises on Easter. The three disciplines of Lent include alms-giving, prayer and fasting. St. Mary's alms will go to Heifer International, a nonprofit that uses donations to supply livestock to needy individuals in the developing world.
Under bright light wafting through St. Mary's stained glass windows, Lioi recited a gospel reading from the book of Matthew with the theme of undertaking the Lenten season's disciplines not to impress others but for spiritual purification: “When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others ... When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites who love to stand and pray in synagogues or on street corners so that others may see them ... When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, they neglect their appearance so that they may appear to others to be fasting ... But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that you may not appear to be fasting except to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.”
Lioi, assisted by Edison Tayag, a pastoral year seminarian, Kathy Lipfert, the pastoral minister, and Leonard Smith, a layman minister of communion, marked the foreheads of the attendees with the ashes of palms.
“Ash Wednesday means to dust we shall return. It starts the fasting and the joyful time of Easter,” said Theresa Oughterson, of Auburn.
Like every year Oughterson is giving up sweets and snacking between meals for Lent. “It reinforces my faith,” Oughterson said.
In a busy world, many parishioners came to church on their lunch hour and accepted Lioi's permission to leave before the Eucharist sacrament.
With the ash crosses on their foreheads, they carried a commitment as Lioi put it in his homily “to reflect more perfectly the image of Christ in the world.”
Staff writer Amaris Elliott-Engel can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or at amaris.elliot-engel@lee.net
Parishioners were asked to bring in their old palm leaves from last year's Palm Sunday. The church burned them in a metal barrel Tuesday before preparing the ashes for Wednesday's ministry. The Lenten season continues until Holy Thursday, three days before Easter.
“It's just a time to reflect on why we became Catholics and why we come here every week,” said Carole Sarofeen, of Skaneateles, following the service.
Lent provides a “deeper spiritual meaning on how to be a Christian,” she added.
In the earliest days of Christianity, Lent originated as period of time for new converts to prepare for baptism on Easter and to parallel the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert to prepare for ministry, Lioi said.
In contemporary times, it has become an opportunity for the already baptized to prepare to renew their baptismal promises on Easter. The three disciplines of Lent include alms-giving, prayer and fasting. St. Mary's alms will go to Heifer International, a nonprofit that uses donations to supply livestock to needy individuals in the developing world.
Under bright light wafting through St. Mary's stained glass windows, Lioi recited a gospel reading from the book of Matthew with the theme of undertaking the Lenten season's disciplines not to impress others but for spiritual purification: “When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others ... When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites who love to stand and pray in synagogues or on street corners so that others may see them ... When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, they neglect their appearance so that they may appear to others to be fasting ... But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that you may not appear to be fasting except to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.”
Lioi, assisted by Edison Tayag, a pastoral year seminarian, Kathy Lipfert, the pastoral minister, and Leonard Smith, a layman minister of communion, marked the foreheads of the attendees with the ashes of palms.
“Ash Wednesday means to dust we shall return. It starts the fasting and the joyful time of Easter,” said Theresa Oughterson, of Auburn.
Like every year Oughterson is giving up sweets and snacking between meals for Lent. “It reinforces my faith,” Oughterson said.
In a busy world, many parishioners came to church on their lunch hour and accepted Lioi's permission to leave before the Eucharist sacrament.
With the ash crosses on their foreheads, they carried a commitment as Lioi put it in his homily “to reflect more perfectly the image of Christ in the world.”
Staff writer Amaris Elliott-Engel can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or at amaris.elliot-engel@lee.net
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