Ash Wednesday

Yesterday, of course, was Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent. One of the Roman traditions for Lent is that of the stational churches. Each day Mass is celebrated in a different church. The first, on Ash Wednesday, is Santa Sabina, the Dominican church on the Aventine and Pope Benedict XVI was there yesterday afternoon. The celebration began at Sant' Anselmo with the singing of Psalms followed by a procession to Santa Sabina for Mass. During Mass ashes from the previous Passion Sunday's palms were blessed and placed on the heads of all present in the sign of the Cross. The ashes remind us of our mortality and, with the invocation to turn away from sin and believe in the Gospel, they recall us to a life which is not totally bound up in the things of this passing world.

The picture shows the Holy Father placing ashes on the head of Cardinal Camillo Ruini, his Vicar for the Diocese of Rome (pro tem.)