Metro Detroit Christians mark Ash Wednesday with valentines in mind

Metro Detroit Christians might celebrate the love in their lives a little differently this Valentine’s Day.

Ash Wednesday is, after all, a day rooted in love, local clergy members said of the coinciding occasions on Feb. 14.

"Valentine's Day is all about love, obviously,” said the Rev. Mario Amore of St. Aloysius, a Catholic church in downtown Detroit. “But so is Ash Wednesday, so is the season of Lent. It's about us recognizing God's love in our lives and all the opportunities that he gives to us to encounter his mercy."

Catholics center their observance of Ash Wednesday on returning to God at the start of Lent, a 40-day period ahead of Easter, which falls on March 31 this year. The season marks a period of spiritual preparation for a renewal of faith in the spring, Amore said.

Many Catholics associate the season with fasting, a practice to abstain from chosen foods, habits or activities starting on Ash Wednesday as a way of uniting more closely to God, he said.

For some people, that could mean skipping Valentine’s Day chocolates.

“Do I say, ‘Happy Ash Wednesday,’ or do I say ‘Happy Valentine’s Day?’” Beth Allison, 36, said while waiting for St. Aloysius’ Ash Wednesday noon Mass to start. “It’s just another way that we can enter into the sacrifice. Typically, you eat sweets and things like that on Valentine’s Day, and it’s just a reminder that we are in a penitential season and it’s good to sacrifice.”

The St. Clair Shores resident, who also serves as the parish mission and operations director at St. Aloysius, planned her Valentine’s Day get-together with friends around her decision to eat just one meal on Wednesday, she said.

While fasting may pose a challenge to some, the concurrence of both dates isn’t unprecedented, Amore said.

“I actually think, and others have said this as well, it’s really beautiful that Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day falls on the same day,” he said.

People celebrating Valentine’s Day might honor their loved ones with roses or chocolates. Christians observing Ash Wednesday will wear that love more visibly on their foreheads with the ash crosses they bear, said the Rev. Chris Yaw of St. David’s Episcopal Church in Southfield.

Part of Ash Wednesday observations include marking parishioners’ foreheads with ash in the shape of a cross, the Rev. Yaw said. The ash cross, formed with the ashes of palm leaves from prior Palm Sundays, is a symbol for themes like repentance, mortality and humility, he said.

Wearing the cross presents Christians with an opportunity to reflect on how they want to embrace spiritual and day-to-day changes in the next 40 days, he said.

"I think that we are full of regrets,” Yaw said. “That we have things we said we wish we didn't say, things we did we wish we didn't do, and we look for a way to say I'm sorry. On Ash Wednesday we can do that."

St. David’s Episcopal Church took a unique approach to spreading Ash Wednesday’s message by creating a drive-through ash distribution site roughly nine years ago, he said.

The church has continued the tradition for nearly a decade, operating a faster distribution site in its parking lot off 12 Mile Road for visitors to receive ashes and confide in a clergy member or church volunteer, Yaw said.

Most drive-through participants aren’t regular members at St. David’s, he said. They’re delivery drivers, elderly residents who live nearby and busy families all grasping for connection, no matter how long they’ve been away from the church or do not practice the faith, Yaw said.

“I think this year things have gotten scarier, even ramped up from last year,” he said. “People will bring that to their faith and hopefully to our driveway, where we hope to offer some words of assurance and comfort and acceptance.”

Catholics model their observance of Lent around fasting, prayer and alms-giving, embodying the latter practice with tangible efforts such as offering food and supplies to the homeless, Amore said.

Praying for peace at home and abroad can also be part of that effort, he added.

“We’re in union with those who are suffering, and we offer those sufferings, our sufferings, even in the smallest way,” Amore said. “We don’t experience here what our brothers and sisters face in the Middle East. But that sacrifice and that uniting of the sacrifice, it does make a difference at least spiritually.”

Natalia Guerra, 26, is reconnecting with her Catholic faith amid her search for community this Ash Wednesday, she said.

Guerra said the day took on new meaning for her as the first in recent years she was able to attend midday Mass. Beyond her Lenten fast from candy, Guerra was hoping to settle in at St. Aloysius after attending for the first time on Wednesday, she said.

“I’m trying to start up again,” she said, settling back into her pew as the service began.