Ash Wednesday

Sorry for the long delay in posting.  The period after Christmas was a little time for a break and I just never got back on the blogging horse.  I hope to be more faithful during Lent.  To get us off on a rousing start here is the Pope's homily at the first Stational Church of the Lenten Season, Santa Sabina.

http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-homily-at-santa-sabina

The Stational Churches during Lent are ancient churches that are assigned to a day of Lent.  The faithful gather for prayer, litanies and Mass.  As a seminarian I had the blessing of being able to partcipate each year.  Although I was never a fan of getting up early in those days, it became an important discipline in my life to make the effort.  We often would walk if the church were not to far distant which became a kind of daily mini-pilgrimage. 

Today the Holy Father began at the church in the monastary of St. Anselm which is on the Aventine Hill and just a block or so from Santa Sabina and led a procession to the main church.  This was traditional in earlier times as part of the Lenten Stational Churches.