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St Patrickโ€™s (Ballymaghery) School 13 Castlewellan Road Newry

Ash Wednesday and Lent

13th Feb 2024

Wednesday 14th February is Ash Wednesday. Although we are not in school this year to attend Mass and get ashes, our children have been learning about Lent and Ash Wednesday. Please talk to your children about what Lent means. Mass times for Ash Wednesday are included in the bulletin attached. We hope as many of our children as possible will be able to attend Ash Wednesday Mass. ๐Ÿ™

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. Lent is the forty days (excluding Sundays) leading up to Easter. The number forty is significant as it refers to Jesus’ forty days in the desert prior to beginning his ministry of teaching. 

On Ash Wednesday, Catholics receive ashes in the shape of a cross on their forehead . These ashes are created from the palms used during the previous year’s Palm Sunday Mass. They symbolise penance, which is appropriate as Lent is a season of penance, and remind us of our own mortality. During the Mass, as the priest or lay minister applies the ashes, he says “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.” ๐Ÿ™