Ash Wednesday...bring your favorite Protestant

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sadie2723

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Just throwing this out there. I think that Ash Wednesday is one heck of a time to show people why we are Catholic. I encourage all of you to bring your favorite Protestant with you to Mass. Does not matter if they are anti-Catholic or not. I think it is a good way to break down the walls and bring people together.
Just a thought.
 
It’s interesting you would bring this up. After Mass today, my friends and I were discussing Ash Wednesday. The four of us are joining the Church this Easter. 2 of us come from a very Evangelical, Assemblies of God background. The other two were non-denominational. I didn’t know that ashes were actually put on people’s heads, but they told me that Catholics aren’t the only ones who do that. I asked why I had never heard of this. The other former Assemblies of God member said because AG people are so anti-anything Catholic or ceremonial. It’s a shame. Our AG friends and family members are so disapointed and disgusted that we’re becoming Catholic. It’s almost like they truly wish we were becoming Satanists instead of Catholics!
 
You say protestant like it’s not a human being.

Any given Sunday, bring your favorite catholic? Or bring you favorite non- (enter church here) friend.

Sound weird. Bring a catholic, sing to a catholic, feed a catholic, hug a catholic

just sounds funny to me…either way… :cool:
 
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ReflectHim:
You say protestant like it’s not a human being.

Any given Sunday, bring your favorite catholic? Or bring you favorite non- (enter church here) friend.

Sound weird. Bring a catholic, sing to a catholic, feed a catholic, hug a catholic

just sounds funny to me…either way… :cool:
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Point well taken. I did not intend for it to come off like that. Just wanted to expose people to the Catholic Church who had not had the experience. Sorry if I offended.
 
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sadie2723:
Point well taken. I did not intend for it to come off like that. Just wanted to expose people to the Catholic Church who had not had the experience. Sorry if I offended.
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Now my next question is, what is Ash Wednesday? Why is it celebrated? How long has it been a part of catholic observance?

oh an no apology needed. not offended really…
 
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ReflectHim:
Now my next question is, what is Ash Wednesday? Why is it celebrated? How long has it been a part of catholic observance?

oh an no apology needed. not offended really…
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I got this from Catholic Encyclopedia, who says it better than I can:

Ash Wednesday
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The Wednesday after Quinquagesima Sunday, which is the first day of the Lenten fast.

The name dies cinerum (day of ashes) which it bears in the Roman Missal is found in the earliest existing copies of the Gregorian Sacramentary and probably dates from at least the eighth century. On this day all the faithful according to ancient custom are exhorted to approach the altar before the beginning of Mass, and there the priest, dipping his thumb into ashes previously blessed, marks the forehead – or in case of clerics upon the place of the tonsure – of each the sign of the cross, saying the words: “Remember man that thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return.” The ashes used in this ceremony are made by burning the remains of the palms blessed on the Palm Sunday of the previous year. In the blessing of the ashes four prayers are used, all of them ancient. The ashes are sprinkled with holy water and fumigated with incense. The celebrant himself, be he bishop or cardinal, receives, either standing or seated, the ashes from some other priest, usually the highest in dignity of those present. In earlier ages a penitential procession often followed the rite of the distribution of the ashes, but this is not now prescribed.

There can be no doubt that the custom of distributing the ashes to all the faithful arose from a devotional imitation of the practice observed in the case of public penitents. But this devotional usage, the reception of a sacramental which is full of the symbolism of penance (cf. the cor contritum quasi cinis of the “Dies Irae”) is of earlier date than was formerly supposed. It is mentioned as of general observance for both clerics and faithful in the Synod of Beneventum, 1091 (Mansi, XX, 739), but nearly a hundred years earlier than this the Anglo-Saxon homilist Ælfric assumes that it applies to all classes of men. “We read”, he says,
in the books both in the Old Law and in the New that the men who repented of their sins bestrewed themselves with ashes and clothed their bodies with sackcloth. Now let us do this little at the beginning of our Lent that we strew ashes upon our heads to signify that we ought to repent of our sins during the Lenten fast.
 
What does the priest say when he puts the ashes on one’s forehead?
 
“Remember man that thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return.”
 
The Anglican church up the road from me is having a service on wednesady and are encouraging it’s members to come to the altar and recieve the ashes.

I have heard of it being done in high Anglican or Anglo-catholic churches, but never small churches.
 
Hey, would non-Catholics be able to receive the ashes as well?Excuse me if it’s a bit of a dafty question :o I guess it’s not a sacrament like Eucharist or Confession.
 
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LilyM:
Hey, would non-Catholics be able to receive the ashes as well?Excuse me if it’s a bit of a dafty question :o I guess it’s not a sacrament like Eucharist or Confession.
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So far when I used to bring my non catholic best friend to church for Ash Wednesday, she never received it. I also do not know exactly whats church stand point about this one. :confused:
 
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LilyM:
Hey, would non-Catholics be able to receive the ashes as well?Excuse me if it’s a bit of a dafty question :o I guess it’s not a sacrament like Eucharist or Confession.
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I am currently in a RCIA program and we were told I could partake in recieving the ashes. So unless my RCIA leader is wrong, you could recieve the ashes.
 
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Roman_Catholic:
I am currently in a RCIA program and we were told I could partake in recieving the ashes. So unless my RCIA leader is wrong, you could recieve the ashes.
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You could partake in receiving the ashes… you are catholic, arent you? we are talking about non catholics… what about them? are they allowed to take ashes? but… errm… if they do take ashes… that means they believe in catholic’s tradition, therefore, they are catholics… am I right? 😛
 
The ashes are a sacramental: an outward sign of an inner truth. They convey meaning, and usualy carry a blessing from God. A Sacrament (capitol S) is something different. I think anyone can recieve sacramentals in this day and age. Back in the first century you couldn’t even enter during a mass if you hadn’t been taught basic Christian rituals, history and prayers. Today, I don’t think there will be a problem with recieving ashes for this reason: non-Catholics who come to mass may go up to Holy Communion with their arms crossed and recieve the sign of the cross on their foreheads and a blessing. The ashes are the same thing, with an added sacramental: the ashes.
Patrick
 
Correct, it would akin to protestant using holy water to bless himself, a sacramental is a sacramental not a sacrament and visitors are free to use them in manner in accordance with catholic tradition if they so wish, or just observe us weird catholics with black spots on our foreheads if you wish. 😛
 
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LilyM:
Hey, would non-Catholics be able to receive the ashes as well?Excuse me if it’s a bit of a dafty question :o I guess it’s not a sacrament like Eucharist or Confession.
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Non-Catholics can get ashes. I took someone last year who was not Catholic. Come on down.

Brad
 
Cyber Knight:
You could partake in receiving the ashes… you are catholic, arent you? we are talking about non catholics… what about them? are they allowed to take ashes? but… errm… if they do take ashes… that means they believe in catholic’s tradition, therefore, they are catholics… am I right? 😛
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I was baptized Catholic, however the rest of the RCIA class who are all non-Catholics were told they could partake. Unless she was only talking to me, but I dont think she was.

God Bless
 
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sadie2723:
Just throwing this out there. I think that Ash Wednesday is one heck of a time to show people why we are Catholic. I encourage all of you to bring your favorite Protestant with you to Mass. Does not matter if they are anti-Catholic or not. I think it is a good way to break down the walls and bring people together.
Just a thought.
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What if the Protestant invites *you *to an Ash Wednesday service?

Many Protestant churches celebrate Ash Wednesday, you know. I just learned today of a Wesleyan church that does (they are a very evangelical denomination). The Episcopal church I go to of course celebrates it, but so does the Methodist church I also attend (my wife is Methodist and my family is from a Methodist background).

Edwin
 
LOL, I freaked out the first time I saw my grandfather with ashes on his forehead. He never took me but I guess he’s just assumed that being raised Baptist I’d want no part. LOL, he’ll be very surprised come Easter!

I can’t see why you wouldn’t be able to receive ashes. One of our deacons runs RCIA and encouraged me to go wednesday. If my wife is off work, we’ll go.
 
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ReflectHim:
Now my next question is, what is Ash Wednesday? Why is it celebrated? How long has it been a part of catholic observance?
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Not that Brad’s explanation wasn’t good, but I just wanted to add:

I found an explanation on-line directed towards teens. (Can’t find it now:( )

But the explanation went on to say that people used to mark their “property”. Slaves would also be marked, sometimes on the face. By recieving a cross on our foreheads, we are proclaiming to all that we belong to Christ or We are slaves of Christ. Which I personally find very cool :cool: .

God Bless,
Maria
 
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