Pardon our dust, we're under construction....'

Intermountain Catholic

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Bishop Wester places ashes on the forehead of Flor Muñoz and her daughter at the Cathedral of the Madeleine on Ash Wednesday. More photos on the Intermountain Catholic Facebook page.IC photo/Marie Mischel

By Father Eleazar Silva Galván

Special to the Intermountain Catholic

SALT LAKE CITY — In a solemn Mass presided by the Most Rev. John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake City, and concelebrated by Monsignor Joseph Mayo, rector of the Cathedral of the Madeleine, and Rev. Eleazar Silva, parochial vicar of the Cathedral, the beginning of the holy time of Lent was celebrated at the Cathedral of the Madeleine on Feb. 22.

As is tradition, members of the Madeleine Choir School provided the music for the Mass. In attendance were teachers, students, alumni and family members of the school as well as many parishioners and others.

In his homily, Bishop Wester emphasized that we need to convert, even if we are Catholic. This is a continuous and constant way of living. It is not conversion as a change of religion, nor a change of life, it is the process of putting our lives in God’s hands every moment of our lives, Bishop Wester said.

Using a phrase that can be found in the hotels to explain to guests that the place is dirty because it’s under construction, Bishop Wester explained the Ash Wednesday rite of imposing ashes on the foreheads of the faithful: "Sorry for the dust, we are under construction."

Catholics "are called to convert, to change our way, to have a change of heart … toward Christ, toward the resurrection," Bishop Wester said, adding that we are not complete; we are in the process of it. Lenten ashes are the dust that will attest how God is building us, and how we are disposed to allow him to do so, he said.

Bishop Wester emphasized that Lent and Easter are two moments of the main Christian feast. It’s not about two different subjects, it’s one big celebration that starts with 40 days of preparation [Lent] and ends with 50 days of celebration [Easter].

After the homily, the priests continued with the blessing and imposition of the ashes. Bishop Wester was the first to receive them, from the hand of Msgr. Mayo. After that, the ashes were distributed to all the assembly, who received them with devotion. At the end of the Mass, in the final blessing, Bishop Wester prayed to God that we all receive a true spirit of repentance.

Lent is time for us to return to God with our prayers, Bishop Wester said. It’s time for fasting and penitence. It’s time for dust and for the construction of God in us. On Ash Wednesday we began the journey as one Church, as one family, as a whole community born in the baptism, fed by the Eucharist and penitence and… ‘Sorry for the dust, we are under construction.’