Ash Wednesday repeat

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anrmenchaca47

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Yes or No? Is Ash Wednesday a holy day of obligation?

If not not? Should it be? I just found out myself. All this time I felt it mandatory to go to mass to receive ashes. I feel it is meaningless if one just goes to recieve the ashes and then leaves. Anyway, thoughts on the question? Thanks!
 
Ash Wednesday is NOT a holy day of obligation. You can receive ashes, if you wish, either at Mass or at another time.
 
It isn’t a Holy Day of Obligation but it seems more people come to Church on Ash Wednesday than some Holy Days of Obligation
 
“anrmenchaca47 said:
Ash Wednesday a holy day of obligation?
While all Roman Catholics are encouraged to attend Mass on Ash Wednesday in order to begin the Lenten season with the proper attitude and reflection, Ash Wednesday is not a Holy Day of Obligation: practicing Catholics do not have to attend Mass on Ash Wednesday.
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No it’s not, but this morning’s Mass was soooooooooo much more crowded than on a Holy Day.
 
No, Ash Wednesday is not a holy day of obligation. It is not even a holy day. It is a feria but it is classed as a privileged feria. This means although it is a feria no other liturgical day can replace it.

There is no obligation to go to Mass today or to receive ashes. Personally, I believe Ash Wednesday is an important day and think we Catholics ought to be obliged to go to Mass on this day. I would hope it is a day when Catholics want to go to Mass.
 
anrmenchaca47 said:
All this time I felt it mandatory to go to mass to receive ashes. I feel it is meaningless if one just goes to recieve the ashes and then leaves. Anyway, thoughts on the question? Thanks!
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  1. while many parishes only provide Ashes during Mass, a parish does NOT have to have mass to give out ashes. There is a parish near my office where Capuchin Friars are. They give out ashes every hour from 7am until 6pm. Some of the time is a scheduled Mass and other times is just ashes being given out.
  2. To directly answer your question: no, I do not think Ash Wednesday should be a Holy Day of Obligation. Reason: a Holy Day of Obligation requires Mass attendance. Ash Wednesday only requires coming to the Church. You can just pray & receive ashes. One does not have to attend mass. Also, a ton of people already attend on Ash Wednesday, so there is no reason to change it.
God bless
 
anrmenchaca47 said:
Yes or No? Is Ash Wednesday a holy day of obligation?
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No.
If not not? Should it be?
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(Shrug) It’s all the same to me, as I try to go to Mass daily anyway. Given the attendance on Ash Wednesday is the same or bigger than Holy Days of Obligation, I don’t see that it matters.
I just found out myself. All this time I felt it mandatory to go to mass to receive ashes. I feel it is meaningless if one just goes to recieve the ashes and then leaves.
Click to expand...
I agree it would be bad form to not stay for the whole Mass. It is always good to attend a Mass any day you can. The Mass is the highest form of prayer. Ashes are just an extra touch to the day. Think of it as the kickoff meeting for Lent.
 
Father changed up things a bit and did the ashes after the final blessing. That helped the egress quite a bit as people were leaving gradually rather than en masse. You would’ve thought we were handing out gold rather than ashes by the look of the parking lot.
 
Canvas said:
but it seems more people come to Church on Ash Wednesday than some Holy Days of Obligation
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Yes, they do. Our 7 p.m. forma extraordinaria (EF) ended few minutes ago.

The pews were packed. Folks were kneeling when they should have been sitting. Some were kneeling during the Pater noster.

God love them ! At least they came !

I especially enjoyed seeing those who were not used to the EF turning to look up at the choir loft and smiling.
 
Mass attendance is not obligatory. Fasting and abstinence is. So yes we must observe Ash Wednesday in some capacity.
 
It’s Pure Wednesday on the Byzantine Catholic calendar too.
 
Imho, it should be a HDO. However, since I’m Ukrainian Greek Catholic, my .02 doesn’t count. 😀
 
That’s practicing Roman Catholics. In the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church we have Presanctified Liturgy (which is only done on Great/Good Friday on the Latin calendar).
 
The Priest emphasized today that ashes have no meaning ,if we dont change our lives.service was jampacked today ,that there were even worshippers outside,despite having 4 services .never seen that before.
 
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