A Mark of Faith for Lent : Catholics, Lutherans, Episcopalians Attend Ash Wednesday Rites

For 35-year-old Lisa Olsen of Orange, Ash Wednesday inspired a simple yet challenging Lenten resolution--to be more patient with her children, ages 9 months and 3.

Hortence Carey, 88, tightly gripping a rosary against her walker, said she intends to coax her tiny frame the two blocks to Our Lady of the Pillar parish in Santa Ana daily through Easter Sunday.

And for Candida Madrid, 61, of Santa Ana, honoring the start of Lent marked yet another year in a lifetime of unquestioning observance, borne of habit and a strict Catholic upbringing.

Abiding by ritual, Catholics, Episcopalians and Lutherans throughout the county interrupted daily routines and flocked to parishes Wednesday to mark the start of Lent, emerging with the day’s namesake ashen cross swabbed on their foreheads--a symbol of human impermanence that dates back to the Old Testament.

Lent continues for 40 days, ending on Easter Sunday, and commemorates the period that Jesus fasted in the wilderness. It is marked by prayer, repentance, symbolic abstinence from decadent treats like chocolate and alcohol, and a spirit of giving to those less fortunate.

Wednesday observances at Our Lady of the Pillar Catholic parish on West 6th Street began at 6:30 a.m. as Spanish-speaking worshipers stopped in for a message of penance delivered in their native tongue, and continued throughout the day as families, assorted stragglers and even kindergarten classes filed into the sanctuary to be marked by blessed ashes of burnt palm fronds.

In Orange, at the Holy Family Cathedral, the parking lot was jammed early Wednesday as many couples arrived on their way to work in separate cars to listen to Msgr. Lawrence J. Baird of the Catholic Diocese of Orange urge confession, symbolic sacrifice and intensified prayer.

“Attend Mass more, pray 15 minutes a day, and come make that good confession that will make all of our thoughts happy thoughts,” Baird told the 8 a.m. gathering of about 300 worshipers at the first of five masses that continued throughout the day.

“It’s a time to think about what’s really important--the value of life. The older you get, the more you appreciate it,” said Rick Kison, 49, of Orange, who emerged from Baird’s Mass marked with a heavy ashen smudge, remembrance of the body’s cycle from dust to dust. “We’re not the best thing going in the world. We’re only here for a little bit.”

While the symbolism of ash dates back to Old Testament, the ritual imposition of the ashes became official in Roman Catholic liturgy in the 11th Century, Baird said. It is also practiced by other, more traditional offshoots of Catholicism, such as the Episcopal and Lutheran churches.

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The ashes are generally gathered from palm fronds burned after the previous year’s Palm Sunday, which heralds Holy Week, the final week of Lent.

Kison, who attended Mass with his wife before they headed off in different directions to their respective jobs, comes to Holy Family Cathedral every Sunday. But Ash Wednesday is a special time, he said.

“It’s a real community gathering. It was nice to see so many babies in there,” Kison added. “People get up earlier today. It’s a family time.”

Olsen, who came to church with a parcel of church linens that she volunteers to iron every other week, made her Lenten resolutions as Baird spoke. When her 3-year-old son, Bobby, increasingly jealous of his 9-month-old baby sister, started to wail, she roughly yanked them out of Baird’s service.

“I was going to try to not eat between meals . . . and try to be more patient with my children,” she said in the cathedral lobby, holding Bobby close to her as he smeared the ash into a blob across his forehead.

For others, personal tragedy marks this Lent as distinctly serious.

Sean Callanan, 31, of Tustin lost his father to heart failure three weeks ago. Then, on Sunday, a close friend who lived in Santa Ana died in an airplane crash in South Lake Tahoe.

“I’m going to try to attend Mass every day, and ask God to make sense of it,” said Callanan, who runs a beer and wine bar in Tustin. “Usually I give up alcohol, but I’m not going to do that this year. There have been too many deaths.”

Parishes throughout the county can look forward to an increase in alms-giving, and most commit to pass the offerings on to the poor during Lent. At the Holy Family Cathedral, a “Skip a Meal, Share a Meal” program brings in money that people would have spent on the meal they opted to miss. Traditional Catholics swear off all meat except fish on Ash Wednesday and every Friday during Lent.

Most of the 53 parishes in the Diocese of Orange were expected to be filled to capacity throughout the day Wednesday, Baird said.

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Our Lady of the Pillar, in Santa Ana, attracted throngs of predominantly Latino Catholics, many of whom place particular importance on the rituals of Ash Wednesday and the call to repent their sins.

“For me, it’s a very important day of repentance, a very big day,” said Amparo Casillas, 42, who came to Santa Ana five years ago from the Mexican state of Jalisco, as she struggled to quiet her 2-year-old grandson outside the sanctuary. “Ever since I was a little girl, I have come to Mass on Ash Wednesday.”

Many, however, came simply out of years of habit.

In 72-year-old Guadalupe Flores’ earliest memories, she recalls receiving the ashen cross on her forehead with her four brothers in the Guerrero town of Altamirano.

“For us, it’s our belief and it’s very ancient. They taught us this way since we were very small,” said Flores, who recently moved to Garden Grove but still goes to church in Santa Ana.

“My mother died in July. She always brought us,” added Candida Madrid. “If we didn’t come, God would not be with us. If we don’t come, we feel guilty. We’re afraid. We have to come!”

More devout Catholics, who passed out flyers announcing a “Popular Mission for Lent” held on weeknights across the street from the sanctuary, chided those who come without understanding the religious significance of the event.

“Thousands of people come . . . but a lot of people don’t know what it’s really about,” said Heriberto Alvarez, 52, who has volunteered at the church for 12 years.

“Everyone knows that they’ll get a cross on their forehead, so they come. It’s been converted into a tradition,” he said, as a group of kindergarten boys lined up in front of him poked at each other’s ash-smeared foreheads.