Jump to content

From Dust You Came, and To Dust You Shall Return


Valin

Recommended Posts

Via Meadia

2/13/13

 

ash-wednesday1.jpg

 

If you see people walking around today with smudges on their face, don’t worry—the marks are there for a reason. Today is Ash Wednesday, the day that begins the Christian season of Lent. In the Old Testament, ashes are a symbol of repentance and mourning, and Christians don them every year around this time to kick off forty days of Lenten fasting and prayer.

 

Lent lasts forty days because the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record Jesus spending that amount of time in the desert being tempted by Satan before he began his earthly ministry of preaching and healing.

 

In some services when congregants receive the ashes, the minister says to them “from dust you came, and to dust you shall return.” Our consumption focused and youth oriented culture doesn’t like being reminded of depressing realities like death, and many people are repelled by the sackcloth and ashes spirituality Lent represents. The great atheist lion Bertrand Russell once wrote, “When you hear people in church debasing themselves, and saying they are miserable sinners, and all the rest of it, it seems contemptible and not worthy of self-respecting human beings.”

 

But the Latin root of humility is humus, dirt, reminding us that humility and mortality are tied together. In an America where arrogance and scandal is all too common and fear of death drives people to extremities, a service that seeks humility by reconciling us to our mortal fate might be something worth pausing over.

 

(Snip)

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

AshWed_Carousel.png

 

 

Our observance of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, which falls on February 13 this year, and is a day of fast and abstinence for Catholics. At Mass on Ash Wednesday, the imposition of ashes replicates an ancient penitential practice and symbolizes our dependence upon God's mercy and forgiveness.

 

During this Lent, the U.S. bishops are encouraging Catholics to make going to confession a significant part of their spiritual lives. They have issued a statement, "God's Gift of Forgiveness: The Pastoral Exhortation on the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation" that can be distributed and shared in parishes. Dioceses are encouraged to make the sacrament available often during Lent and to use these resources to promote participation. We are also providing resources to help individuals who have not been to confession in a while "rediscover" the sacrament.

 

During Lent, the baptized are called to renew their baptismal commitment as others prepare to be baptized through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, a period of learning and discernment for individuals who have declared their desire to become Catholics.

 

The three traditional pillars of Lenten observance are prayer, fasting and almsgiving. The Church asks us to Scissors-32x32.png

 

http://www.archgh.org/blog/main.asp?Tid=1141&id=461&cat=Archdiocesan

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • 1711721849
×
×
  • Create New...