Ashes and Ash Wednesday

This marks the beginning of the Lenten Season for Catholics and some other denominations. Unlike the olden days, we have things a whole lot easier as our only days of Fast are Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. The lenient ‘no meat’ rule of recent times is rescinded and all Fridays in Lent are ones of abstinence. Although I have heard a few priests, over the years, remind the congregations about this, I don’t think the message actually gets through to the majority. I remember taking my children to Costco one Friday during Lent for a meatless snack. The snack area was packed with people and I’m sure a majority of them were Catholic yet every person sitting there was having something with meat.

Ash Wednesday is also the day everyone comes out of the woodwork and even if they haven’t attended Mass the rest of the year, they show up for the ‘free’ ashes. Some people actually think that you will have bad luck if you don’t receive the ashes on Ash Wednesday. Seems to me, one would face worse than bad luck to only attend Mass once a year. I remember shopping one Ash Wednesday after Mass and a woman ahead of me in line at the check out kept staring at me. When she walked over, I was prepared to explain and defend the ashes on my forehead. Surprisingly, she asked, “Where did you get those and did you have to attend Mass to get them?”

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. According to the Church year, it occurs 46 days before Easter and is a ‘moveable’ feast which can be on the calendar as early as February 4th our as late as March 10th.

According to Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus spent 40 days fasting in the desert. Ash Wednesday is our 40-day liturgical period of fasting and prayer. We get the name Ash Wednesday by the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of the people. This reminds us of our mortality and of our repentance. The ashes used are gathered from the burning of the palms from the previous year’s Palm Sunday.

The one aspect I dislike about the Ash Wednesdays of recent years are the untrained extraordinary ministers distributing ashes. The solemnity of the occasion is often marred by the female ministers who grin and greet people they know as they haphazardly smear on ashes. I guess that it might be God’s way of getting us ready for offering up sacrifices for the duration of Lent!

Just remember that if you are a Catholic, know that Ash Wednesday is not a holy day of obligation. You will not have bad/good luck depending on whether you receive ashes or not. One person actually told me that when I wiped off ashes that had gotten into my eyes and nose that I had to turn in the used tissue to the priest as it had to be burned in respect. Not so. No meat today or on the Fridays of Lent. If you are an adult, fasting today and Good Friday. And since this is the beginning of a penitential season, try not to trample other people in line for ashes. I’m sure the priest has enough to go around!

Ash Wednesday

Grant us, O Lord, to begin the service of our Christian warfare with holy fasting; that as we are about to fight against spiritual powers of wickedness, we may be fortified by the aid of self-denial.

Roman Missal, Collect after Distribution of Ashes

Shrove Tuesday Greetings!

Lent begins tomorrow with Ash Wednesday. You enter church on Ash Wednesday and there is a more solemn feeling with the flowers removed and the readings and Gospels beginning our path to Holy Week, the Crucifixion, and, ultimately the Resurrection which begins the Easter Season.

For many, however, the day before Ash Wednesday (as in TODAY!), is a day to have a last fling with treats and celebration before we put aside our party mood to follow the way of the Cross once more.

To many, today is called Shrove Tuesday. Shrove comes from the word ‘shrive’ which means a time to take some time for self-examination and consideration of what wrongs or bad habits in our lives can be resolved or stopped in the next six weeks of Lent. It should be a time of pursuing spiritual growth, asking for God’s help, and undoing wrongs that may have hurt others. Given some of the celebration of Mardi Gras, I’m thinking many people will be adding to the ‘need to shrive’ list by the end of the evening!

Today can be also called Pancake Tuesday. Many people use Lent to offer sacrifices in their daily lives as in things they like to do or things they enjoy eating. Pancake Tuesday represents our last taste of rich foods as pancakes (if they are made well!), are comprised of whole milk, good flour, butter, and eggs not to forget the rivers of syrup and mountains of melting butter on top.

Long before the Christian Era came into play, the ancient Slavs thought of the change of seasons as a struggle between Jarilo, the God of fertility, vegetation, and spring time and the evil spirits found in the cold and darkness of winter. Naturally, the people decided that Jarilo could use some help in overcoming the gloominess of the spirit-ridden winter months and decided that pancakes was the way to go! The round pancakes coming hot out of the pan were symbolic of the sun and it’s warmth. By consuming the pancakes, it was believed it gave off the light, power, and heat of the sun. I guess, the more that were made and eaten, the sooner the dismal winter times were banished.

Naturally, every country has a treat that is enjoyed the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. The English go with the with the pancakes. The Polish people have special jelly donuts called Paczki. In Germany, housewives fry up doughnuts called fashnachts which it German for ‘Eve of the Fast.

The English made pancakes, the Poles jelly doughnuts called paczki. In Germany, women bustled about frying up doughnuts called fastnachts (German for “Eve of the Fast”). In researching, I discovered that just about every country has a special pancake primarily reserved for this day! Some differ by topping, others include special ingredients in the batter. At our house, we prefer waffles so I guess that in our neck of the woods, we started our own little tradition. No matter how you observe the vigil of Lent, if it bring family together, it is a good thing.

O kind Creator, bow Thine ear

To Mark the cry, to know the tear

Before Thy throne of mercy spent

In this Thy holy fast of Lent.

Roman Breviary, Hymn audi benigne Conditor for Vespers.

Open Year Round!

Although many parishes enjoy a full compliment of attending parishioners every day of the year for Sunday and week day Mass, there are four days that can triple attendance and make for some interesting ‘spiritual’ interludes.

Naturally, there are always crowds of unknown people showing up for their twice annual attendance. I’ve heard many a pastor gently remind from the pulpit that the church is open more than on Easter and Christmas.

Then, there are the ‘freebies’ events – Palm Sunday and Ash Wednesday when many unknowns show up for the ‘handouts’. Some people have told me that it is ‘bad luck’ to not receive ashes on Ash Wednesday and will ruin the rest of your year. Others get as many palms as needed to weave into crosses during Mass. You can’t resent their presence because even if their motive for coming was less than perfect, who knows what blessings might bring them back on the ‘off’ days!

In the most devout of groups, however, some interesting interludes take place on holy days and every day, for that matter.

I can never figure out why people don’t understand the concept of standing aside while one Mass exits so the next one can enter. I used to attend a parish with limited room to get in and out of Mass. When Mass ran over a bit, we’d face a solid wall of people who were determined to get in regardless of the opposing wall of people trying to exit. I’m sure many an usher would have risked his life trying to coordinate this so a solution was never reached.

When Ash Wednesday or Palm Sunday comes around, I always made sure to get there early if I wanted a seat. Back when I had a toddler in arms and three little ones, it was necessary to be able to corral and seat them. One Ash Wednesday, we were seated and settled. Crowds of people were still coming in and we actually got some resentful looks because we had secured a seat. Usually, morning Mass was sparsely attended and that Ash Wednesday it was packed for the ‘good luck’ ashes.

After the sermon, Father distributed the ashes and we all went up in an orderly manner, pew by pew. Even 20 minutes into Mass, people were still arriving. A group of people came in the side door and immediately pushed ahead of us in line for the ashes. We go our ashes and returned to our pew only to find it filled with the latecomers. At first, I gave them the benefit of the doubt as to not knowing that even though the church was crowded, one, lone pew had not been occupied. That doubt fled when we approached and they grinned at us and handed me our jackets and prayer books.

Pew stealers seem to be a way of life in what is supposed to be a Christian atmosphere. A friend related to me that when her family returned to their pew after the Blessing of the Fire on Easter Vigil, they found their baby carrier, purses, and prayer books dumped in the aisle and another family (who they knew well) was occupying the pew. When she kindly said they had been there first, having arrived an hour before Mass, the family said someone stole their pew so they took this one. My friend had a better solution as she smiled and said they would share the pew so ten people were together in a pew that was made for five.

I think my all-time favorite observation was the woman who marched up to the altar before Mass on Ash Wednesday, gave herself a ash cross on her forehead and walked out. Basically she had adorned herself with unblessed ashes but, to each his own.

An encounter at Walmart, one Ash Wednesday, summed up a lot of this when a woman turned to me in line, stared at me for a minute and said asked, “Where did you get THAT?” pointing to my forehead. Thinking she was asking a religious question, I began to explain and she stopped me and said, “No, WHERE did you get the ashes and do you have to attend Mass to get them?”