St. Aloysius parishioners turning off social media to grow closer to God this Lent as Church enters 40 days of fasting and prayer
DETROIT — Archbishop Edward J. Weisenburger celebrated Ash Wednesday with the Detroit faithful for the first time on Feb. 18 at St. Aloysius Parish.
The archbishop said it is in Catholics’ “DNA” to get ashes to prepare for 40 days of reflection before celebrating the glory that is Easter.
“There are those who, I think, very falsely accuse Catholicism of being a religion overly focused on sin,” Archbishop Weisenburger said in his homily. “There are 365 days a year. Forty of those are dedicated to a reflection on sin, ongoing conversion and change — I hardly think it’s obsessive.”
Archbishop Weisenburger recalled the history of receiving ashes to begin Lent as a sign of repentance for one’s sin.
In the early days of the Church, members of the faith who committed a grave sin in public — scandalizing the Church community — showed their repentance by wearing sackcloth and having the bishop pour ashes over their heads.
The penance would last a year or years, but once completed, on Holy Thursday, the bishop would give absolution and the whole community would welcome back the penitent.
Then, Charlemagne, the Holy Roman Emperor from 800-814, came along.
“Charlemagne hadn’t committed grave public sin in that sense, but he did it as a sign of personal piety,” Archbishop Weisenburger said. “What the emperor does, everybody wants to do; suddenly, within a decade, half the Catholic population was doing this.”
The Church in prudence responded by limiting the wearing of ashes to the 40 days leading up to Easter and just sprinkling a smudge of ashes on the forehead, rather than pouring a handful of ashes over the penitent’s head.
Amidst all the changes to the practice, the meaning behind the pious gesture remains.
“We live in a Western culture that refuses to acknowledge that the good times will never end, and while we don’t want to be morbid about it all, we’re reflecting upon the truth that one day this life will end,” Archbishop Weisenburger said. “So it’s healthy emotionally and healthy spiritually, and the Church gives us that every year on this day.”
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Lenten season, traditionally celebrated through prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
Detroit Catholic spoke with Mass attendees about their Lenten resolutions and how they would like to grow closer to God over the next 40 days.
“This year, I’m giving up social media and trying really hard to wake up at 5:30 in the morning to have some time alone during the quiet time before starting the day,” St. Aloysius parishioner Claire Mutone said. “And then I’m also trying to add to my days by being more committed to reading the daily Scriptures as well as reading from a book called ‘The Catholic Worker.’”
Corrien Sabuda, a St. Aloysius parishioner who entered the Church in 2024, is also committed to not using social media during Lent, unplugging from the digital world to be more in tune with the natural world.
“Social media is something I don’t need in my life right now,” Sabuda said. “Social media has really been a negative impact on my spiritual life because I allow myself to be ‘rage-baited’ by social media, and I allow myself to get really caught up with how terrible things are in the world, and I really just want to focus on strengthening my relationship with the Lord.”
Designating a specific time in the liturgical year to grow closer to God allows the faithful to have a spiritual reset, Mutone added, recalling how, even in the Gospel, Jesus or one of the prophets went out into the desert to find time to be closer to God.
“When we think of Lent, we think of how solemn it is to take the time to be really intimate and engaged with the Lord,” Mutone said. “In the busyness of the day, we really forget how we can live out the passion of the Lord and his days in the wilderness. But with Lent, we can really just focus on that more, more intentionally remember the works of the Lord.”
Archbishop Weisenburger reflected on the Gospel reading from St. Matthew, in which Jesus calls on his followers not to neglect their appearance while fasting and to give alms in secret.
“The Gospel today is about doing everything quietly and in private, and so we walk out with a big smear of ash on our foreheads,” Archbishop Weisenburger said. “Jesus, throughout the Gospel, is not condemning the several prophetic gestures we see in religious practice. He condemned hypocrisy, a mentality of, ‘Look at me, aren’t I special? Aren’t I wonderful? Aren’t I, in the end, better than you?’
“When we leave this church today marked with those ashes, what we’re telling the world is we’re not better than them, we’re exactly like you, and how wonderful it would be if you would come along with us,” Archbishop Weisenburger added. “We acknowledge our need for God. We acknowledge that our lives are finite. We acknowledge that our God loves us, has redeemed us, and walks with us every moment of our lives.”
