Does this put any damper on the Valentine's day activities?
What I know about Ash Wednesday is just the embarrassment I had telling a devout Catholic co-worker she had some dirt on her forehead that day. This was back in the early 70's when I was helping DH get through graduate school in a large midwestern city by working in a bank. Said co-worker put me in my place and I don't think she ever really forgave me my faux pas.
So you're saying that this year, 2024, Valentine's Day is the perfect day to get a little ash?
Hopefully, this will encourage Gladys Lot to continue her devotion to RfM, but I have to hope that she'll consider upping the ante when it comes to offering me money...
> So you're saying that this year, 2024, Valentine's > Day is the perfect day to get a little ash?
I sincerely hope you get all the trash you want this Valentine's Day.
---------------- > Hopefully, this will encourage Gladys Lot to > continue her devotion to RfM, but I have to hope > that she'll consider upping the ante when it comes > to offering me money...
What do you know about the Sol Particle? Would you like to know more?
----------------- > $50... What an insult!
You're turning up your nose at 50 dollars? We both know it would take you a whole evening to earn that much.
Your coworker was an asshat. Your average Catholic would not assume that everyone knows their religious customs, and would be happy to explain it to you.
As a child, I always found that ceremony meaningful -- probably the most meaningful thing I did with the church.
I was so very naive, young, and sheltered by living in the hub of mormonism my whole life. Knew nothing about other religions except that "they were all wrong". My co-workers knew I was a mormon so I was already quite the novelty. She had a relative who was a priest and went to mass just about every day. I guess she felt like this was a high and very bad insult for me to say that to her. I was just trying to let her know she had somehow gotten something on her forehead. I remember also wondering why she had her bangs parted the way she did...(face palm).
I just saw a national reporter with a big cross of ash on his forehead reporting on cable news. My non-mo and non religious SO said "what the H*ll is that?" I had to explain it to him. He thought the guy should have wiped it off. I told him they are proud of it. Am I right on that or is it more of an obligation to keep it on all day?
It's both. I suppose which is more important depends on the person.
I grew up back east in the pierogi belt, which was overwhelmingly Catholic. I knew more about novenas than I did about fast offering when I turned 12.
(going to church and offering a prayer for someone on 9 consecutive days. As I understood it, lighting a candle was part of it, going to mass each day was optional)
My paternal GM was Lutheran and went to sunrise services on Ash Wednesday and Easter. If I went with her on Ash Wednesday, I was allowed to wash the ashes off my head before going to school.
We also did meatless Fridays and other Catholicy stuff. Same with my Episcopalian relatives.
My mom and I would get the ashes in the late afternoon after school. Yes, Catholics normally keep the ashes on if at all possible. They are a very sobering reminder that we are on this planet for a short time only. The priest intones, "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust" as he rubs them onto your forehead.
BTW, the ashes are normally formed from the burning of the prior year's palm fronds (from Palm Sunday, which commemorates Jesus's entry into Jerusalem.)
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/14/2024 04:58PM by summer.