Ash Wednesday Schedule

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, a season of fasting and prayer. Ashes will be distributed at each of the Novena Masses to Our Mother of Perpetual Help on Wednesday, March 5, 2025, at 9:30am, 12:00pm, 2:30pm, 5:05pm & 7:00pm. 

Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are obligatory days of fasting and abstinence in the Catholic Church. Catholics are also to abstain from meat on each Friday during Lent. 

As the first day of Lent, Ash Wednesday awakens us to Jesus’ entry into the desert preceding his death. Before Easter, however, we must prepare our hearts for his Resurrection.

We begin our season of preparing our hearts for Easter by recognizing our brokenness and need for conversion, a turning of our hearts to God.

The ashes symbolize our mortality. They are a physical reminder that our bodies will decay, but our souls will live on in eternal life.