Bishop Robert Brennan Marks First Ash Wednesday as Leader of the Diocese of Brooklyn

• 9:00 a.m. - Bishop Brennan led a Mass and distributed ashes at Cristo Rey High School, located at 710 East 37th Street in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn.
• 12:00 p.m. - Bishop Brennan celebrated Mass at St. James Cathedral Basilica, 250 Cathedral Place, in Downtown Brooklyn.

Bishop Brennan distributed the ashes on the foreheads of congregants during both Masses. As is customary, the ashes used on Ash Wednesday are made by burning the blessed palms distributed the prior year on Palm Sunday.

Lent, the Christian observance of the liturgical year from Ash Wednesday to Holy Thursday is a 40-day period of penitence and preparation for the commemoration of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus. It ends with the celebration of the Sacred Triduum, the three holiest days of the year: Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil. Easter Sunday will be celebrated this year on April 17th.

Ash Wednesday 2022.mp4 from Diocese of Brooklyn Press Office on Vimeo.

“So what do we need to do but empty out all that stuff that is within us, all the bitterness, all the baggage we are carrying, all the jealousy, all of the hatred, whatever it is, every one of us has something different that weighs us down. And the world in which we live is filled with this poisonous stuff, isn’t it? With an attitude against life and human dignity, with the reality of violence, with the reality of racism, the horrible reality of racism, the terrible scourge of drugs and opioids, a violence that so pervades our society. Starting ourselves, we need to just get rid of all the old sour wine, secondly, we need to cleanse, get rid of any trace of it. Thirdly we stretch, we open ourselves to receive God’s mercy.” - Bishop Robert Brennan