The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1912-02-28
'LENTEN SEASON
kept BY ST. ROSE
The Devotion Of The way of
The Cross" Will Be Conduct
ed At st. Rose Catholic
Church This Afternoon.-Ex-
PLANTATION OF The Forty Days
Fast.
SERVICES HELD NEXT FRIDAY.
ny Rev. @ Brey.


Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the
Lenten fast, was kept at ST. Rose, this
city, in accordance with the ancient
ritual of the Catholic church. On this
day all the faithful are exhorted to APP
proach the alter before the beginning
of Mass, and there the priest, dipping
his thumb into ashes previously blessed,
marks upon the forehead of each the
sign of the cross, saying the words:
| Remember man that thou art dust
and anto dust thou shalt return" The
ashes used in this ceremony are made
by burning the remains of palms bless
ed on the Palm Sunday of the previous
year. In the blessing of the ashes four
prayers are used, all of them ancient,
and the ashes are sprinkled with molly
water and fumigated with incense.
This ceremony marks the beginning
of the Lenten season of about forty
days, kept by the Catholic Church in
remembrance and in imitation of the
foi ty days fast of our divine Master
just before He began the three years of
His public mission which was to end
with His death upon the Cross. 1t is
also reminder of approaching death
and of the necessity of doing penance
for sins. BY establishing the law of
HASTINGS the church did not introduce
any novelty, for from the earliest times
it was in use among The people of God.
The patriarchs had recourse to fasting
to prevent relapse into sin. Moses
proclaimed forty days fast to prepare
the vast multitude, whom he had led
out of Egypt, for the reception of the
divine law. The Ninivites, at the
preaching of Jonas, gave themselves up
to fasting and penance to avert the ter
rible judgment impending over them
Josaphat ordered a general fast, to
obtain from Heaven aid to defeat the
armies swarmiug out of Syria to enslave
his people. David, when the child born
OF his great sin, was stricken with sick
ness unto death, kept a fast and lay
upon the ground" Of such penitential
practices, when accompanied by earn
est prayer, the angel Raphael declared:
They deliver the soul from death, and
procure for men mercy and life ever
lasting"
Our Lord, the great model of man
kind, came into the world to lead a
penitential life. Before beginning His
mission, after being baptized by St.
John, He tasted for the space of forty
days and He prophesied that his Apost-
les and followers should also fast in
imitation of his example. On one oc
casion when the disciples of the Phar-
isees and of John the Baptist came to
Him and said: WHY do the disciples
of John and the Pharisees fast, but Thy
disciples do not fast'' He said to them:
"As long as they have the bridegroom
with them they cannot fast. But the
days will come when the bridegroom
will be taken away from them. and
then they shall fast in those days"
MARK IL. l9 20). Remembering these
words and mindful of His example, the
early Christians began to fast during
the forty days preceding the anniver-
sary of their Masters death. The GUS
tom became law, and has through the
ages been religiously kept by the mem.
bers of the Catholic or Universal
church.
The Devotion of the "Way of the'I
Cross" will be conducted at St. Rose
church today. Wednesday. at 3 p. m,
and after this week, on Fridays at the
same hour.