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 The lenient ‘no meat’ rule of recent times is rescinded and all Fridays in Lent are ones of abstinence.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.

“Fasting Is A Medicine” – St. John Chrysostom 4th Century

I just realized that the Lenten Season is nearly upon us . . . again! There always seems to be that slight feeling of dread about what we can’t have in order to be sacrificial during Lent. Yes, we should ‘give up’ things in order to strengthen our spiritual resolve, but we can add things to our life, during Lent, to bring about change in our outlook, too.

Our family always does meatless on Wednesdays as well as the mandatory Fridays of Lent. We also try to stick to the ‘old-fashioned’ notion of fasting. We have our three meals a  day and avoid snacking. It is always interesting to note, during the first few days of Lent, how many times we actually find ourselves absentmindedly putting food in our mouths.

That is our ‘give ups’ of Lent. This year, however, I’m thinking I’d like to put some more positive spins on the six weeks. I’m going to be a better steward of our grocery budget taking more time and creativity in meal preparation. I usually fix a decent meal for my family but am thinking about watching the health aspect more and incorporate more healthy foods in a way that will add to their nutrition as well as their happiness. I guess I want to cut down on the unnecessary edible extras (like fats and sweets) yet present an acceptable meal that is enjoyed. It is sort of like the ‘good’ way of fasting where you wash your face and put on a smile so people don’t know you are being penitential thus making your sacrifice more meaningful as you aren’t looking for admiration.

Anyway, I’m going to spend time researching meatless recipes and healthy recipes recipes this week in preparation for the next six weeks. I’m hoping that some of the habits we put into play will last us beyond Lent, too. Seems like the incorporation of extra prayers and healthy habits that remain kind of give you a good report card for Lent!

I’ll share any meatless recipes I discover and enjoy. Anyone with like-minded ways, is welcome to also give us the benefit of their experience.

“It is better not to fast and be thereby humbled, than to fast and to be self-satisfied therewith.” Pascal Pensees 17th century

Lent is Coming!

Let the mouth fast from disgraceful and abusive words, because, what gain is there when, on the one hand we avoid eating chicken and fish and, on the other, we chew-up and consume our brothers? He who condemns and blasphemes is as if he has eaten brotherly meat, as if he has bitten into the flesh of his fellow man. It is because of this that Paul frightened us, saying: “If you chew up and consume one another be careful that you do not annihilate yourselves.” St. John Crysostom

Will We Have Another Lent In Which to Make Amends? – A Mere Story . . . by Barbara M. Barthelette

The darkness had fallen over the land two, three days ago. It was hard determining the passing of time. Nothing was as it should be. We stumbled in the shadows that were barely lightened by the rising sun. The world was not as I had come to know it.

Although the sun brought a dismal grey to our lives, the nights were of the most fathomless blackness. It was an unending darkness that caused much claustrophobia. Even though the world, I am assuming, maintained it usual spaces, the dark seemed to close in tightly about each person. The cover of silence was underscored by the continual murmur of voices as people tried to come to terms with whatever had or was about to befall them. It was a time of terror for most, prayer for some.

In the loneliest time of the great night, tiny pinpoints of light punctuated it’s dense shade for some people had managed to light candles or small fires. These tiny rays of hope should have drawn others closer. They didn’t. Most of the wandering souls feeling their way through the void seemed to be repelled by the flickering flames. A very few joined the small groups near the tiny  lights, kneeling where they found themselves and praying. I felt myself an undecided spectator.

It was hard to believe that only three, maybe four days ago now, life was so normal. People went about their business as usual with little thought of doing without. Newspapers blared daily about the corruption, murder and crimes of our daily lives. For the majority, these were things that happened to other people. The world was changing but we humans kept making adjustments to keep up with what the world was becoming. There was little innocence left except in the very young. We compromised what values we had in order to fit in at work and home. Life just kept going on and we adjusted our outlooks to cope with it. Religion was an extracurricular activity not necessary for the day to day living we dealt with.

Then the televisions and radios went blank for no apparent reason. We couldn’t guess the extent of the problem since our lines of communications were gone. Telephone calls went suddenly dead, appliances stopped. The sun shone down without question on a suddenly quiet world. Then harsh expletives rent the air as people used profanity to comfort themselves as they were faced with the inexplicable. There was confusion and much unkindness as each tried to blame another.

The darkness. . . How to explain the advent of the blackness that eventually covered the world, at least the world as far as we could see from our personal viewpoints during this time. It was like dusk approaching and never lifting enough to bring on the morning.

That first moment of complete darkness brought out the candlelight. I felt myself drawn to it yet unable to approach it and envied those who were able to single-mindedly move towards those small breaks in the dark and those who were determined to remain in the blackness. I had read descriptions in books referring to the black velvet softness of the night. There was nothing soft or comforting about this continual night.
I felt my way through the night, neither repelled nor consoled. I looked for a resolution to this sudden mystery. I pondered this holocaust that plagued us all.

“To die is landing on some silent shore, Where billows never break, nor tempests roar; Ere well we feel the friendly stroke, ‘tis over.” Sir Samuel Garth

This was not death. . .yet. There was no quiet withdrawal from life for anyone within my perception. The darkness was getting blacker and the earth shook with unearthly thunder. These strange signs and wonders brought more people to their knees and caused great consternation among those who continued to push and shove their way through the black nothingness that had replaced our world. Loud noises seemed to announce events to come and occurrences to fear.

Voices were raised in praise and in hate, each vying for center stage in this empty world of night. Like an almost spiritual chorus, I hear reminders.

“Blessed is he, that readeth and heareth the words of this prophecy; and keepeth those things which are written in it, for the time is at hand.” Apocalypse Chap. 1:3

Was the time at hand? Or were we experiencing a massive nuclear catastrophe brought on by human action? The world continued to tremble and the darkness deepened and there were cries of hope and cries of dismay. I felt unprepared and panic set in as I began to review my life up until this point. Humanity pushed in from all sides as I continued to stumble in the murky unknown. I was inflicted with blows from people trying to shove their way through the crowds. I fell over others who found comfort in kneeling in prayer.

“Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise. Be zealous therefore, and do penance.” Apocalypse Chap. 6:17

Some took the darkness as a cover for more excesses. For others the darkness caused them to weep over sins committed. Tears poured down my face both in frustration and in my striving to attain a calmness in my soul. I felt this serenity in some I passed in the dark and fearsome hate emanating from others.

“Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I will also keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon the whole world to try them that dwell upon the earth”. Apocalypse Chap. 3:10

The majority of the crowds continued to mill aimlessly. The candles and almost equally small fires  lit at the commencement of the blackness remained lit in spite of the rushing winds and tantrums of nature. They lightened more of their surroundings than seemed natural seeing their small size in the face of the darkness. People continued to kneel next to these tiny beams not as a source of worship but as representing their center of worship. I finally approached, knelt and felt the flame ignite my soul.

“What’er my darkness be, Tis not, O Lord, of Thee; The light is Thine alone; The shadows, all my own.” J. B. Tabb.

As Easter Draws Nearer . . .

“Let Thy gracious favor, we beseech Thee, O Lord, carry us through the fast which we have begun; that as we observe it by bodily discipline, so we may be able to fulfill it with sincerity of mind.”

(Roman Missal, Collect for Friday after Ash Wednesday.)

These Forty Days of Lent, O Lord . . .

The glory of these forty days,
We celebrate with song upraised;
For Christ, through Whom all things were made,
Himself has fasted and has prayed.

So Daniel trained a mystic sight,
Delivered from the lion’s might;
And John, the bride groom’s friend, became
The herald of Messiah’s name.

Then grant us Lord, like them to be,
Full oft in fast and prayer with Thee;
Our spirits strengthen with Thy grace,
And give us joy to see Thy face.

O Father, Son, and Spirit blest,
To Thee be every prayer address’d;
Who art in thee fold name adored,
From age to age the only Lord.

Contemplating The Days of Lent

There was an atheist couple who had a child. The couple never told their daughter anything about the Lord. One night, when the little girl was five years old, the parents fought with each other, and the dad shot the mom, right in front of the child. Then, the dad shot himself. The little girl watched it all. She was sent to a foster home after the death of her parents. The foster mother was a Christian and took the child to church. On the first day of Sunday School, the foster mother told the teacher that the girl had never heard of Jesus and to have patience with her. The teacher held up a picture of Jesus and said, “does anyone know who this is?” The little girl said, “I do, that’s the man who was holding me the night my parents died.”

One day, a man went to visit a church. He arrived early, parked his car, and got out. Another car pulled up near him and the driver told him, “I always park there. You took my place!” The visitor went inside for Sunday School, found an empty seat, and sat down. A young lady from the church approached him and stated, “That’s my seat! You took my place!” The visitor was somewhat distressed by this rude welcome, but said nothing. After Sunday School, the visitor went into the church sanctuary and sat down. Another member of the congregation walked up to him and said, “That’s where I always sit. You took my place!” The visitor was even more troubled by this treatment but still said nothing. Later, as the congregation was praying for Christ to dwell among them, the visitor stood, and his appearance began to change. Horrible scars became visible on his hands and on his feet. Someone from the congregation noticed him and called out, “What happened to you?” The visitor replied, “I took your place.”