Lent Begins

And oddly enough, despite two tries at it, I don't think I managed to get any ashes during the course of the day.  The first attempt came in an early morning visit to Santa Sabina, the station church of the day, for the English Mass.  Unfortunately, due to poor planning, we arrived just after they'd distributed the ashes.  The second attempt came later at St. Peter's, where I arrived in time for the complete Mass, but yet the priest distributing the ashes didn't seem to make physical contact when I went up.  Either that or the ashes were very light, which is possible, since the ash at the basilica was the lightest color I have ever seen.

Overall, it's not a bad start to Lent.  I could have managed better, but it also could have gone far worse.

On a sidenote, upon leaving the Basilica's evening Mass, they had blocked up the colonnade as the Pope was returning from Santa Sabina.  Owing to position, I was only able to see him in a flash in his car, not when he stepped out to an impromptu cheer from a small crowd a bit further up in the colonnade.  Either some youths were just being typically reckless, or they wanted to see him badly enough to leap a barricade with at least a dozen cops nearby, as many leaps were made over the gates.