Ash Wednesday

In honor of Ash Wednesday (which is tomorrow in case any of you weren't aware), I decided to write a post educating those of you who may not know much about this day, since I always get a lot of weird stares or puzzled expressions when people see my ashes. WARNING: If you bore easily, please quit reading now. This post will contain no cute pictures of my child. :)

It seems that no one is sure when the tradition of using ashes as part of religious ritual started, but there are numerous references to it in The Old Testament (Jer 6:26; Is 58:5; Dn 9:3; and Judith 4:11,4:15,9:1). It seems that the role of ashes in the Catholic Church became commonplace towards the end of the 11th century. Now known as Ash Wednesday, it marks the first of 40 days of Lent. It is a day of fasting and repentance in preparation for Easter (Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday, is the day to eat, drink, and be merry before the fasting starts). Ashes are typically obtained by burning the palms from the previous year's Palm Sunday. Back in the day, ashes were used as a way to mark the people who had commited serious sins and were carrying out their penance assigned to them. (Now, obviously, everyone in the Church takes part, and they are to be an outward sign of our own sinfulness and need for penance.) Ashes are also to remind us that God is gracious and merciful to those who seek forgiveness.

During the Lenten Season, we reflect on the passion and death of Christ, as well as our own mortality. We also reflect on our baptismal promises to reject sin and profess our faith. Ok, I'm tired of paraphrasing so I'm just going to copy some text below:

"When we receive ashes on our foreheads, we remember who we are. We remember that we are creatures of the earth ("Remember that you are dust"). We remember that we are mortal beings ("and to dust you will return"). We remember that we are baptized. We remember that we are people on a journey of conversion ("Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel"). We remember that we are members of the body of Christ (and that smudge on our foreheads will proclaim that identity to others, too)."  http://www.americancatholic.org/

So this year if you see people walking around with black smudges (supposed to be a cross) on their foreheads, no need to tell them they have some dirt on their face. They know. I can't tell you how many times people have stopped to tell me that. I guess I should be glad someone took the time to point it out in case it really was dirt. :)

But one year when I was still working as a nurse in the hospital, I had gone to the Ash Wednesday service in the hospital chapel earlier in the day, and later on I was taking care of a patient. The sitter in the room with the patient asked me about the ashes, so I tried to explain them to her. She just kept giving me the most skeptical look. Then she explained to me that she was a Jehovah's Witness and they didn't celebrate anything that wasn't in the Bible, and therefore did not celebrate Easter. Okaaaaayyy. She was actually really rude and condescending so I got all flustered and just left the room.

Anyway, so that is Ash Wednesday in a nutshell. Catholics are called to fast and abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday as well as every Friday during lent (of course, pregnant and nursing mothers are exempt from fasting--check, check, two years in a row! :)  ). They really define fasting as only eating one big meal that day with maybe two small meals/snacks. I can't really say I have ever "fasted," but I do abstain from meat on those days. I think the fasting is also in part to symbolize the 40 days of fasting that Jesus did in the desert, but I'm not for sure about that one.

*I think more churches celebrate Ash Wednsesday these days (Episcopal and Methodist), so this is kind of from a Catholic point of view.

*Note on Jehovah's Witnesses: I was just quoting what that particular lady told me. When I looked up that religion's beliefs on their official website, this is what I found:

"We commemorate the Memorial of Christ’s death, the most important religious event of the year for Jehovah’s Witnesses. Throughout the year, we enjoy parties, picnics, and other events without feeling bound to obligations or to a fixed date. We may also celebrate special events such as weddings and anniversaries. However, we do not celebrate holidays that have non-Christian religious origins or those that promote nationalism. We are not opposed to celebrations in general or to the giving of gifts." http://www.jw-media.org/aboutjw/article32.htm#holidays 

So I'm not sure if that means they just celebrate some sort of variation of Good Friday (Jesus' death) but not Easter (the resurrection)??? I couldn't find any deeper explanation.