By D.F. Kratzer

WHEELING—This season of Lent will be a time to grow in the presence of God, Bishop Michael J. Bransfield said in his celebration of Mass on Ash Wednesday at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Wheeling.

“Recognize this Lent as a wonderful opportunity to grow in the presence of God,” Bishop Bransfield said in his homily, “and the ashes today are a sign to the world ... to identify ourselves as followers of Christ, and to realize that our time is limited and that we are grateful for the crucified Christ.”

Catholics from throughout the Wheeling area gathered at the cathedral to mark the beginning of Lent at the Mass, which was concelebrated by Msgr. Frederick P. Annie, V.G.; Msgr. Kevin M. Quirk, J.C.D., J.V., rector of the cathedral; and Very Rev. Anthony Cincinnati, S.T.D., V.E. Father Paul Hudock, priest secretary to the bishop and director of the diocesan Office of Vocations, and Father Dennis R. Schuelkens Jr., administrator of Our Lady of Peace Parish in Wheeling, served as masters of ceremonies. Also serving at the Mass was Rev. Mr. Doug Breiding.

In his homily, Bishop Bransfield welcomed all of those who gathered at the cathedral for “a sacred day of the church, one that many of us hold spiritually dear in a lot of ways.”

Obligation is not what brings the faithful to Mass on Ash Wednesday, Bishop Bransfield said. “We come because we have a sense of the Lord and we have a sense of God in our hearts that brings us to celebrate this beginning of Lent in a very quiet, unassuming manner,” the bishop said, and “with ashes to signify that we are aware we are here for only a certain amount of time, that there is an eternal world waiting for us, one that must earn in the lives that we lead.”

Bishop Bransfield also spoke about the opportunity Lent gives the faithful to stop and think about God, to pray as a community and as individuals and to practice fasting and abstinence.

“Each year we are fortunate to have Lent,” he continued, “because it is another opportunity in our life to become better, to take a conscious effort to be a better person, to be closer to God, to communicate better, to take an extra chance and to take an extra risk to take a closer look at prayer and try to engage it more.”

Following his homily, Bishop Bransfield stood before the gathered faithful to bless the ashes and then, joined by the concelebrating priests, distributed ashes to the faithful.
At the end of the Mass, Bishop Bransfield said, “it is a great joy to celebrate Ash Wednesday with you in our sojourn to Lent together.”