Ash Wednesday 2018<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It's been a busy day. As I write, it's about 2 p.m. Two Masses and one school service down; another Mass and Liturgy of the Word to go. I'm glad I didn't\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2018\/02\/ash-wednesday-2018\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ash Wednesday 2018\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It's been a busy day. As I write, it's about 2 p.m. Two Masses and one school service down; another Mass and Liturgy of the Word to go. 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{"id":279616,"date":"2018-02-14T13:55:39","date_gmt":"2018-02-14T18:55:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aleteia.org\/?post_type=post&p=279616"},"modified":"2018-02-14T13:55:39","modified_gmt":"2018-02-14T18:55:39","slug":"ash-wednesday-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2018\/02\/ash-wednesday-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Ash Wednesday 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

It\u2019s been a busy day. As I write, it\u2019s about 2 p.m. Two Masses and one school service down; another Mass and Liturgy of the Word to go.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m glad I didn\u2019t give up coffee for Lent.<\/p>\n

I was up early to be at the parish around 7:45, to get set for the first Mass, at 8:00 a.m. I preached<\/a> <\/strong>at that, at the 10 a.m. school liturgy, and at the noon Mass.<\/p>\n

The schedule, posted on the door of the church:<\/p>\n

[img attachment=\u201d279620\u2033 align=\u201daligncenter\u201d size=\u201dfull\u201d \/]<\/p>\n

We had plenty of ashes\u2014and Clorox wipes to clean up after. Those wet wipes are awesome.\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

[img attachment=\u201d279621\u2033 align=\u201daligncenter\u201d size=\u201dfull\u201d \/]<\/p>\n

Which was a good thing. My thumb got a work out.<\/p>\n

[img attachment=\u201d279625\u2033 align=\u201daligncenter\u201d size=\u201dfull\u201d \/]<\/p>\n

I was privileged to serve alongside Deacon Daniel Garcia, who works in maintenance for my parish (and who had to leave early in the afternoon to serve at his own parish) and Deacon Thomas Jorge, who was ordained last May and who today had his very first Ash Wednesday experience of giving out ashes.<\/p>\n

[img attachment=\u201d279628\u2033 align=\u201daligncenter\u201d size=\u201dfull\u201d \/]<\/p>\n

I was Tom\u2019s mentor in formation, and was lucky to be the first forehead he dabbed with ash. He did a nice job.What a pro.<\/p>\n

[img attachment=\u201d279629\u2033 align=\u201daligncenter\u201d size=\u201dfull\u201d \/]<\/p>\n

We sang the usual Lenten hymns\u2014and David Close, our music director, also offered a rendition of \u201cO Sacred Head Surrounded\u201d during the distribution of ashes.<\/p>\n

[img attachment=\u201d279632\u2033 align=\u201daligncenter\u201d size=\u201dfull\u201d \/]<\/p>\n

Crowds have been predictably huge; we easily had over a thousand people at the 12:05 Mass, with standing room only in the back of the church. I\u2019m expecting a similar crowd at 7:30 tonight. I\u2019ll try to post a picture later.<\/p>\n

Now: a nice nap will do.<\/p>\n

UPDATE:\u00a0<\/strong> A picture of the congregation at the 7:30 Mass Wednesday night. It was almost full.<\/p>\n

[img attachment=\u201d279760\u2033 align=\u201daligncenter\u201d size=\u201dfull\u201d \/]<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"