Updated March 6 at 8:56 a.m.

The reflection and preparation season of Lent is on its way and will start off right with the school’s Ash Wednesday Mass on March 6.

Ash Wednesday, while not an official day of obligation in the Catholic Church, is a holy day of prayer, fasting, self-restraint and repentance. It is the first day of Lent in the Western Christian Church marked by services of penitence, and it occurs 46 days before Easter Sunday. The name comes from the placing of repentance ashes on the foreheads of participants to either the words, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return” or “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”

The Mass will be celebrated in the Welch Activity Center from 1:10 to 2:10 p.m. March 6 is a Day 2/late start, with the first class of the day, Period G, beginning on 8:40.

Mrs. Charlene Witka, campus ministry director, said 38 students will be involved it the Mass, with two serving as readers, three reciting the prayers of the faithful, 11 as ushers and 22 as Eucharistic ministers. Fr. Jeff Godecker will be the celebrant.

Witka said as each person receives ashes, he or she will hear “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.”