On February 22nd, Jesuit students and faculty packed into the Terry Center to celebrate the beginning of the Lenten season by hosting mass on the Holy Day of Obligation of Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday honors the 40 days that Jesus spent in the desert leading up to his passion and death. Through this season of reflection, Jesus calls on us to purify ourselves from the temptations of the Devil just as he did.
Mass
Father Derek Vo SJ began the service with a reading from Joel 2:12-18. The passage maintained a repentant theme and promised salvation in the LORD.
“Even now, says the LORD, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning. Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the LORD, your God. For gracious and merciful is he, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment. Perhaps he will again relent and leave behind him a blessing, offerings and libations for the LORD, your God.”
Although this was just one paragraph of the reading, its meaning still resonated with the audience. It calls us to “return to God” with the entirety of ourselves. “Your whole heart,” it says, must seek God’s mercy, “not your garments,” highlighting that salvation is a movement of the soul rather than a possession, which can be bought by material goods.
Mario Zamora, a student in the sophomore class, said, “Mass was very nice, and there was a great message from the priest. The music in the mass was very calming… to hear.”
Additionally, the passage focuses on God’s nature: forgiving, kind, and loving. He is “gracious and merciful,” while being “slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment.” This repetition of virtue mirrors the characteristics of love found in 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7: “Love is patient, love is kind, it is not quick-tempered, it does not rejoice over wrongdoings”. These parallelisms serve to remind us that God is, in his nature, love, and that all love is of God, and is therefore sacred.
Mr. DuRoss, a theology teacher at Jesuit, stated that “Father’s homily regarding the three forms of love was a new take on Lent because it is normally about giving stuff up but what he said about love was interesting.”
Another sophomore Marcelo Elizondo, said, “I enjoyed the mass. I thought the readings were very meaningful.”
Stay tuned to the Roundup for more liturgy and prayer service recaps!
