Ash Wednesday brings sign of hope yet to come
More Catholics attend church services on Ash Wednesday than any other day of the year except Christmas and Easter, so it came as no surprise to see so many people at St. Brigid Church last evening, or on TV at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome yesterday.
Ash Wednesday in Rome was always one of my favorite days of the year. We would join the Dominican fathers and sisters for the Mass at their home church, Santa Sabina, which was always celebrated by Pope John Paul II, followed by lunch with the pontiff. He would begin with an insightful message about a current event in the world and end with an encouraging message of Easter being the “season of hope.”
What I observed yesterday at St. Brigid was a large number of young people attending Mass. Even though many of them might not be able to attend Mass many days during Lent, you could feel that they were happy with getting a good start on the 40 days leading up to Easter.
I also saw there was no sign of the age gap between young and old we sometimes hear about. As with Pope John Paul II and now Pope Francis at Santa Sabina, and churches throughout Boston, Catholics were packed in to hear messages of hope from Cardinal Sean O’Malley and so many other dedicated priests like Father Robert Casey.
Another inspiring Ash Wednesday which stands out for me was a little different than the one in which Kathy and I joined Pope John Paul II for Mass in Rome. It took place in South Boston a few years ago. After early morning Mass, where my young grandson Braeden and I were blessed with ashes by Father Robert Blaney, we stopped at Cumberland’s Milk Store on the way home for coffee and a donut for Braeden. We bumped into Korean War veteran Eddie Toland, who greeted Braeden, who was sitting in his carriage.
“What a beautiful shamrock you have on your forehead, Braeden,” he said. I looked at Braeden’s forehead and remarkably, there was a perfectly shaped shamrock. But if you looked at it from another angle, there was Christ’s cross on his forehead. I believe all special needs children are “God’s saints,” so I was not surprised by what I felt was a miracle.
We didn’t see any miracles last night at St. Brigid’s, but we did see over 800 young and older Catholics in the pews and we heard a message from Cardinal Sean that reminded everybody of our proud Catholic heritage and values, which we first received from our parents, priests and nuns. After Mass I said to the cardinal, “I never saw so many young adults in church, you are a rock star.”
The cardinal humbly responded, “No, my friend, God is a rock star.”