Ash Wednesday is this Wednesday

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TOLEDO — On Wednesday, February 14, the Catholic Church enters into the season of Lent. Lent is a 40-day season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends at sundown on Holy Thursday. It’s a period of preparation to celebrate the Lord’s Passion, Death and Resurrection at Easter.

During Lent, we seek the Lord in prayer by reading Sacred Scripture; we serve by giving alms; and we practice self-control through fasting. We are called not only to abstain from excesses during Lent, but to a true inner conversion of heart as we seek to follow Christ’s will more faithfully. We recall the waters of baptism in which we were also baptized into Christ’s death, died to sin and evil, and began new life in Christ.

Many know of the tradition of abstaining from meat on Fridays during Lent, but we are also called to practice self-discipline and fast in other ways throughout the season. The giving of alms is one way to share God’s gifts—not only through the distribution of money, but through the sharing of our time and talents.

Mass, with the imposition of ashes, will be celebrated in Catholic Churches throughout the Diocese of Toledo on Ash Wednesday (February 14) as well as at Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral in Toledo.

The Diocese of Toledo, established April 15, 1910, encompasses 8,222 square miles in a mixture of urban and rural areas and spans 19 counties across Northwest Ohio, serving approximately 320,000 Catholics in 122 parishes. The Diocese includes Allen, Crawford, Defiance, Erie, Fulton, Hancock, Henry, Huron, Lucas, Ottawa, Paulding, Putnam, Richland, Sandusky, Seneca, Van Wert, Williams, Wood and Wyandot counties