Phoenix bishop calls for Catholics to 'rekindle that passion' on Ash Wednesday

With Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday falling on the same day this year, a longtime husband and wife from Phoenix had advice for younger married couples."Pray together," said Laura Jordan, 65, with her husband, Michael, 66, adding, "Go to church together."

Laura and Michael Jordan stood outside St. Mary's Basilica in downtown Phoenix at the conclusion of the noon Ash Wednesday service. Married for 32 years and lifelong Catholics, the Jordans are part of another parish but decided to visit St. Mary's on the solemn holiday.

Ash Wednesday, when some Christians, including Catholics all over the world, observe the start of the 40-day Lenten period of penance, follows the lunar calendar, and so both special days occasionally coincide.

Making a connection

Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix Bishop John Dolan is imploring the faithful to focus on their relationship with the divine.

“The whole concept of St. Valentine was a passion, not a romantic passion, but a passion for God. Lent is the same thing. We’re supposed to rekindle that passion that we have for God,” Dolan said in an interview with The Arizona Republic.

St. Valentine appears to be an amalgamation of Christian martyrs who died in the third century. Though the Roman Catholic Church removed the saint from their calendar in 1969 due to a lack of solid evidence, St. Valentine is regarded as the patron saint of lovers, and his Feb. 14 feast day is celebrated through gestures of affection.

And Bishop Dolan thinks there are parallels between the two days.

“You’re giving up a lot when you fall in love with someone,” Dolan said about the sacrifices Lent represents.

Lent and Valentine’s Day both rejoice in making a connection beyond the self, Dolan said.

“Valentine’s Day is really a moment of being with ― being with the other, (the) significant person in one’s life. Lent is also about being with ― being with God, carrying that cross, walking with others,” Dolan said.

And a relationship with God, Dolan argued, can nourish the hearts of the lovelorn.

“You can be a single person, but you can be one with humanity, one with God’s people,” he said, pointing to a need to move past loneliness and into a state of solitude.

Daubed with ashes

From a toddler in his young father's arms to a gray-haired woman with a cane, congregants within the basilica's blush-colored walls quietly moved from the overflowing oak pews to where they would have their foreheads daubed with ashes shaped like a cross.

"Deliver us, Lord, we pray from every evil. Graciously grant peace in our days, that that hope of your mercy we may always be free from sin and safe from all distress as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our savior, Jesus Christ," Father John Muir prayed before those gathered.

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The Jordans approached Muir outside the church. This day marked his first Ash Wednesday leading the congregation, the Jordans noted.

And what significance did the couple glean from Valentine's Day falling on the same day as this most sacred of days?

"It makes Ash Wednesday easy to remember," Laura Jordan said with a laugh.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix bishop calls for relationship with God on Ash Wednesday