Ash Wednesday
Massimo Palombella
Today is the first day of Lent. In the Ambrosian Rite, Lent begins with the first Sunday and all Sundays of this liturgical season have a penitential character, unlike the Roman Rite where Sundays retain their festive character.
Historically, it was from the last years of the pontificate of Gregory the Great (+604) that the Lenten fast began with the Wednesday before the first Sunday in Lent. The fourth canon of the Council of Benevento (1091) prescribed that on this day the faithful should have ashes imposed on their heads as a sign of penance.
In the 11th century, in Rome, the Pope, clergy and faithful used to gathered in the Basilica of Saint Anastasia and, after the imposition of ashes, they sang the litanies and went in procession to the Basilica of Saint Sabina on the Aventine for the Eucharistic celebration (this custom was interrupted in the 18th century and resumed by Pope John XXXIII in 1962, although the procession started from the Benedictine Church of Saint Anselm).
Today, the Church proposes to us a time to enhance the quality of our lives. Forty days to provide space for the Lord, to remove what is not necessary and to have the possibility to be with ourselves, to give a name to our discomforts, our anger, our pain, and thus allow the Lord to love us in truth.
The Communion antiphon for today’s Celebration is taken from Psalm 1 (Ps 1:2b. 3b) with the following text:
Qui meditabitur in lege Domini die ac nocte, dabit fructum suum in tempore suo.
(He who meditates day and night on the law of the Lord, shall bear fruit in due season).
The attached music, in Gregorian Chant, is taken from the Graduale Triplex published in Solesmes in 1979. The interpretation is by the ‘Capella Gregoriana’. The music track can be found on the CD ‘Gregorian Meditation’ published in 2009 by Cobra Entertainment LLC.
A blessed Ash Wednesday and heartfelt greetings.
