By DEVIN HEILMAN

Staff Writer

COEUR d’ALENE — Two tall white candles were lit.

Parishioners quietly streamed into St. Pius X Catholic Church and filled the pews during Wednesday’s noon Mass, preparing for a season of prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

After prayers, hymns and opening remarks, parishioners were called to the altar and one by one they received crosses of blessed ash on their foreheads. One vertical smudge for repentance, a lateral one for belief in the gospel.

"It’s touching, but not because it’s a grand miracle. It’s the absence of the miracle. It’s waiting for the miracle to happen," said 16-year-old Marie Zaragoza of Coeur d'Alene. "The miracle will happen on Easter, when everyone will wear their pastels. Yeah, we’re in the dark right now, but the light is coming."

Marie's father, Rho, said the Ash Wednesday service was reassuring and served as a reminder that in the face of dark moments and tragedy, God is always present.

"It’s reassuring to me,” he said. “Jesus has died and has risen, so that’s what we always celebrate. Along the way people will die as time moves forward, but we always have that constant joy. So when we have these kinds of solemn events, it’s to remind us of those solemn moments whenever we meet tragedy that we draw upon the Lord to reassure us that, ‘Hey, I’ve got your back.'”

The ashes placed on the faithful's foreheads during Ash Wednesday are from the blessed palm fronds used during the previous year's Palm Sunday. The ash crosses are worn throughout the day to remind those wearing and observing them that Ash Wednesday is just the beginning of Lent, a season of change for the Catholic faith.

Tom and Sharen Brunner of Hayden attended the Mass and shared a few things they plan to do differently during Lent, which lasts until April 13. Lent is the time before Easter when Catholics give up something and practice fasting, abstinence and penitence to honor Christ's fasting in the wilderness.

"I’m going to try to do more prayer, more service and try to spend more time in silent prayer," Sharen said. "I never get enough of that it seems, and I have a lot to pray for right now."

"I’m going to try to be a calmer person and more considerate, be more grateful to my religion,” Tom said.

Father Roger LaChance said Lent was originally the time of preparation for those who were going to be baptized Christians on Holy Saturday. While they are still prayed for, he said the Church now also prays for "us old Catholics, old Christians that we can continue to be committed to the Lord and his works."

“Lent is supposed to be a time of renewal, reconversion, recommitment,” LaChance said. “I talked about our baptismal vows. When we’re baptized, we’re blessed with the sign of the cross, and guess what we got today? We got the sign of the cross too. It’s a reminder of how well we’re doing with our baptismal commitment. Remember man, you’re dust, and unto dust you shall return.

"From dust to glory," he continued. "What’s God calling you for? To be a mere mortal on this Earth, or does God call you for immortal life? Remember your eternal life — from dust to glory."