What to Make of Ash Wednesday Marking

Ash Wednesday is the second most attended Mass in the Catholic calendar, even though it is not officially a holy day of obligation.

One of the features of the Ash Wednesday liturgy is the application of ashes on the faithfuls' foreheads to mark the start of Lent to represent our consciousness of our own sin and need for repentance. These sacramentals are not uniformly applied in the same manner, hence the waggish graphic of Ash Art.

Some non-liturgical Protestants question whether Christians should advertise their faith by walking around wearing schmutz on their forehead. They would question why we are not adhering to Matthew's admonition not to trumpet their faithfulness in public.

However, walking around with Ashes on their forehead is not exactly a boast of one's virtue.  In fact it is the opposite.  And unless Fr. Hollywood applies "The Hitchcock" or "Harry Potter" ashes, the mark is a variation of the Cross.  In the ancient world, the cross was a sign of shame, as it was the cruel way the Romans enforced their authority against "criminals".  In Christendom, it is a reminder of the Via Dolorosa which each of us are invited to take in our walk of faith.

Lest anyone think that Ash Wednesday Ash art is just a benign symbol, consider the case of Stuart Varney.  In 2001, the host of CNN's Moneyline, quit after CNN head honcho Ted Turner mocked those with ashen crosses on their foreheads as "Jesus Freaks".  

The Joys of Catholic Guilt

Graham Greene
(picture by Forgács Máté).

One of the things I often heard about in vague terms before becoming a Catholic was ‘Catholic Guilt’. There were those who seemed to pride themselves upon it. I picked up some notion of it from reading Graham Greene’s novels, with their heroes tortured by a sense of wrongs which could never be righted, evils which could never be undone, sins which could never be forgiven. In those days I could easily dismiss anything Catholic as not really being Christian, so I came to a vague conclusion that Catholics couldn’t therefore believe in Divine Grace.

That’s the problem with picking up your ideas about Catholicism from non-practising Catholics. You’ll encounter a jumbled assortment of half-truths, corrupted truths and distorted truths, which are far more dangerous than lies. In fact, I’ve come to learn from painful experience that the non-Catholic Catholics are very good at leading others swiftly down the broad road to destruction. The US health secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, being a prime example.

So what is this Catholic Guilt? What is peculiarly Catholic about having a strong sense of sin? Archbishop Fulton Sheen put it well when he said that a Catholic suffers more from wrongs he commits, simply because he loves more. It becomes so much more personal. If you have the idea of church as something like a police force, trying to catch you committing sins so you can be hauled before the courts and publicly disgraced, or like a stern schoolteacher who enforces conformity and insists that you do what they say ‘just because I say so’, then of course you will come to feel that offending this authority is no great matter. In fact, such offenses may be the way to liberate yourself from a burdensome responsibility which is only preventing you from reaching your individual potential.

But when you come to know the Church as your Mother, and when you come to know that this loving Mother was born from the womb of Our Blessed Mother, and is identical with the Body of Our Lord, who suffered so intensely out of love for each one of us, then it becomes a personal matter. Then you know that to break with this tender Mother is to separate yourself from one who loves, nurtures, protects.

I will never forget the deep sense I had in my first week following reception into the Church, when I had received Holy Communion for the first time: I just knew that there was a Presence inside me that I did not want to offend. Why would I want to do anything to separate myself from that great love?

The true understanding of Catholic guilt is that it is so painful because it is a fall from such heights of grace. The deeper the love affair, the more heartbreaking is the sense that this love is endangered, that it could even come to an end. And we know, as Catholics, that it could. We know we could lose that state of grace, not because God rejects us, but because we reject Him. The guilt is a blessing, because when we feel it, we know that something is wrong, and we can do something about it through the Sacrament of Confession. God forbid that I should ever cease to feel the pain of separation from Our Lord.


Posted by Anthony Radice (A Tiny Son of Mary).

Faith - There isn't an app for that.

I was reading through this article the other day:

http://www.mydomesticchurch.com/2011/05/disconnect-in-between-being-catholic.html

It made me think about mobile phones and why our faith isn't like one.

Perhaps I ought to explain. The article – which is a good one – is about an American couple who were using IVF and at the same time displayed a woeful ignorance on church teaching about a number of things.

Sample quote from the mother “According to the church, I can use IVF, confess my mortal sin, gain absolution and get back into God’s good grace. But how do I seek forgiveness for conceiving my children? “ Now I don't propose to address that comment here as the blog author did an excellent job herself..

We are saved, ultimately, by the undeserved and unmerited Grace of God – we know this. But I wonder how many of us stop to think about how closely we are following the instructions God himself gave us? How many stop to think of the implications of ignoring those instructions – either directly as written in the bible or as passed on to us from church teaching?

Why do we do things that we know are wrong? I'm not talking about the normal struggle with sin that we all have in some way shape or form in our lives. I mean the big specific things that we know are wrong and make a conscious decision to ignore (or at least not to look at too closely because we think we shouldn't do it) Things like IVF, Homosexuality, Abortion, Infidelity etc? Having then committed said sin how do we then possibly try to justify what we have done or to weasel out of taking responsibility for it?

How can we blame the church, or even God, for making what we wanted to do sinful? For stopping us from living a normal life in the 21^st century?

At an individual level it comes down to either ignorance or the spirit of 'entitlement' which is pervading our current age, sometimes both. Usually ignorance about the concepts of repentance and confession going hand in hand with a sense of being entitled to do something – either perform an action or otherwise – that society accepts as normal but that is against church teaching. Because “I should be able to as well.”

10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. 11 For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," said also, "Do not kill." If you do not commit adultery but do kill, you have become a transgressor of the law. (James 2:10-11 RSV)

Sin is sin. You can argue all you like that you kept 9 of the commandments but it won't matter in the slightest if you continuously break the 10^th. Now this sounds harsh but we have only to repent of our sin and the Lord embraces us back like the prodigal son. The thing is 'repent' means to turn away from. It doesn't mean to say “Sorry” with the full intention of doing it again.

Faith is about living to the Gospel, matching your actions with your beliefs so that you can walk righteously with God – insofar as any of us can. Being righteous isn't about being perfect, its about trying as hard as you can to do what God wants you to do and then – when you fall – getting up and trying again.

This is what our Lord tried to tell us when he talked of the narrow and wide paths.

12 So whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; for this is the law and the prophets. 13 "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few. (Matthew 7:12-14 RSV)

Its really easy to look at this world and conform to it. It is really hard to look at our faith and the teachings of the church and make a decision not to take / do / have what other people do or have in this world for the sake of following our beliefs. Sometimes this means painful choices and acceptance of things that we would rather were otherwise. Sometimes it may mean that the only way forward for us is prayer and trust in God. Sometimes it just means that we have to forgo some of the things that would make us happy in this life. Immediately preceding this quote Jesus speaks of the Fathers desire to give us 'good gifts' and we should hold that close to our hearts whenever we are forced to look at society and see things we can't have or do.

We need to take solace in the words of our Lord:

I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. (John 10:9 RSV)

He reminds us in the above passage that he, like the Shepherds of old lying down across the gate to the pasture, is the door to heaven and that we can pass safely through him. How do we do this? By following his teaching. However hard things are and however tempting it is to ignore teaching that is difficult or inconvenient we need to remember our route to salvation is by following Jesus and being his disciples. By modelling ourselves on him and doing our best to imitate him.

Most importantly we must keep our faith at the centre and forefront of our lives, above all other concerns:

17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, "In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires." 19 These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. 20 But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. 21 Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. (Jude 1:17-21)

Faith isn't like an iPhone or a Smart Phone. You can't just take the basic model and add the apps that you want and ignore those you don't. Faith is a little like a Bible. Whats in there is in there no matter if we like it or not. It is an instruction manual on how to live, not a novel for our enjoyment.

You can, of course, get a Bible app.

By Cant Oves of http://caveevangelista.wordpress.com