This year Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent, coincides with Valentine’s Day, the celebration of love.
It is understood that this has not happened since 1945 and will happen again only in 2024 and 2029. Ash Wednesday starts the 40-day season of Lent and is observed as a penitential day of fast and abstinence from eating meat for Roman Catholics all over the world. It is also the day when ash is applied on the forehead during the morning mass to remind us that dust we are and to dust we shall return (Genesis 3:19).
On Valentine’s Day young lovers profess their love for one another. Hence young Catholic lovers could be in a dilemma wondering how to celebrate Valentine’s Day. It is understood that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago has said that practicing Catholics need to plan to skip any romantic steak dinners.
The Archdiocese has also said that Valentine’s Day can appropriately be celebrated on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. If the church in Goa feels that restrictions need to be in place by way of fasting and abstinence from eating meat as far as the youth celebrating Valentine’s Day is concerned, then it would be desirable for the authorities concerned to lay some guidelines.
These guidelines could be made known to the faithful through the various parishes in the State. If the church feels necessary, the youth belonging to the Catholic faith could even be asked to celebrate Valentine’s Day one day prior, i.e. on February 13 in order to maintain the sanctity and spiritual significance of Ash Wednesday.
ADELMO FERNANDES, Vasco
