Catholics, practicing and non-practicing, love Ash Wednesday.  People you won’t see again till Midnight Mass show up and happily wear the ashes.  Will ashes alone suffice for conversion of heart?  When the ashes are washed away, will  sin be, too?  Hopefully,  the graced action of the sacramental ashes will act on the heart as a foot in the door.

Lenten Alert: Don’t waste the moment and movement of grace; open the door of your Catholic heart to God, especially if you have been away.

Choose a hidden place for yourself and delight to retire there alone, where you need not talk with anyone, but instead pour out your heart to god in prayer.  In this way you will have a clear conscience and a contrite heart.  Look upon the whole world as nothing, preferring to give your time to God before all external things.” Thomas A’Kempis: Imitation of Christ