Ash Wednesday: will you go about your day WITHOUT washing your forehead?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Lepanto
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
I will wash, I will attend the 12 Noon mass, I’m a professional Soldier, it would be inappropriate to not remove the ashes while in uniform.

When I was not a Soldier, sometimes I would wash, sometimes I wouldn’t. Not washing does present an opportunity to share your faith…but might it also be SHOWING OFF?
 
I am purposely going to a morning mass so that I can wear them the rest of the day. Since I am working this year and am no longer in school, I can do this. I have never been able to because school started at 7 and the earliest mass ends at 7 so this year I am going to be late for work and “go get ashes”
It will be nice to witness to all the non-Catholics in my work place.😃
 
I’ll wear mine after Mass. I tend to forget that I’m wearing ashes, so when someone points it out to me I have to remember. I think it’s a lot like my religion. I tend to forget that I have Jesus with me, I forget to be charitable, I forget to act as a child of the Most High. I need to be reminded over and over and over again.
 
Now let’s see here. Ashes, dust, to remind me that I came from dust and to dust I shall return. Now is it my job to wear them so that everyone else including those that don’t get them will be reminded also? Preferable to wearing “the mark of the beast.” Old customs are important. They lend continuity to our lives.
 
I leave them on, but I also go straight from the 6:30 am mass to work.

Here’s an interesting note: My company allows employees to take an extra hour for lunch if you plan on attending mass, but you have to come back with the ashes on your forehead to show that you actually went to church!
 
We will try to attend Ash Wednesday Mass in the early afternoon, and then… go about our business with the symbol of repentance on our foreheads, in plain sight. Anyone who asks about the “smudge”… will be given a straightforward and honest answer.

It won’t be washed off till Wednesday night.👍
 
some are more hardcore than others. some are just not ready yet. some may not even know what to say. so if that’s you, don’t worry, just realize that you’re not ready yet. everyone is at a different point in their spiritual journey. as long as you’re moving forward and not remaining stagnant or falling backwards, you’re fine. 😃
 
I almost wish we could wear ashes every day as a witness of our faith. I mean that really would be a sign that “Yes I am Catholic, Yes I am proud of it, Yes I will defend Christ to my death!” What a great witness. I guess we have to do it only once a year so that the meaning is not lost to habit.

I hate it when priests and nuns cannot be distinguished from other people because they refuse to wear the habits. It makes me so:mad::(. There are so many good reasons for the religious to wear a habit and every one of them is good. I personally have always loved wearing a uniform and I hope to be a nun some day. At least that part would not be hard for me. Cutting my hair on the other hand :crying: Ah well, that is for another forum…🤷
 
I plan to keep my ashes throughout the day if possible… .However, with all the rain last night, the Lord might have other plans 😛

They are always interesting discussion starters. I hope the rain holds off, or my umbrella works this day :o
 
to shower or not to shower? just went to 6:30 Mass and i’m getting ready to go snowboarding. i guess i’m going to get stinky anyways…
 
I think I’ve found a local Anglican that is putting on the Ash today. If not I’ll go to the local RC Church and get it done. 😃

Thank God for Roman Catholics
 
Update: I went to 10:30 am Mass … our church had to put on two extra Masses and an extra lunchtime Liturgy of the Word with Distribution of Ashes just to cater for the number of people wanting to attend! :cool: :highprayer:

Got the ashes, walked through the city in the morning, went to work in the afternoon … a grand total of five people out of all the people I saw yesterday even commented.

All bar one person knew what Ash Wednesday was already - but it sparked one interesting conversation with a lady who is a reasonably hard-core atheist (as she said 'I haven’t got a spiritual bone in my body!)
 
catherine_m said:
I’m ashamed to say I won’t get the ashes. :o I haven’t done so since I was a child as I find it all a bit too morbid!!! 😦 I will of course go to Mass though.
Click to expand...
Excuse me incase someone else already asked this question but why go to mass if you are not receieving Ashes? Ash Wednesday is not a holy day of obligation so unless your just going for daily mass then why make a point to go?

To the OP

i am going to the ash services (no mass just the readings and ashes) after work since i didn’t make it mass this morning. I only wash the ashes off when i wash my face at the end of the day. no particular reason except to wash my face off during the day means that my eye make-up will get taken off too and i am too lazy to reapply it.
 
johnnydigit said:
to shower or not to shower? just went to 6:30 Mass and i’m getting ready to go snowboarding. i guess i’m going to get stinky anyways…
Click to expand...
Don’t brag. I really wish that I could go skiing today:( I have not been skiing in two years because it is too expensive to go because I live in Vegas. I really miss skiing.:crying: and Colorado, and snow, and all that good stuff that you find in cool climates.:crying: It is not nice to brag, especially on Ash Wednesday.😃 😦
 
Some years I’ll wash them off, some years I don’t. If the priest was messy and overgenerous (bits of ash sprinkling down onto my nose and cheeks), or for some reason I’m just feeling “private” I’ll wash them off without compunction.

When I lived in Italy, you didn’t receive the ashes on your forehead there. The dry ashes were sprinkled in the form of a cross on your bowed head. So no one was visibly marked on that day, and you couldn’t tell who had received them and who hadn’t.

Because of that experience, I don’t worry about whether I keep my ashes on my forehead - or not.
 
This thread is totally unhelpful for a scrupulous person.
After reading the whole thing so far it comes down to this.

“If I wash off the ashes I am denying God and my faith for fear of embarassment and persecution.”
or
“If I don’t wash off the ashes I am being prideful and showing off like the hipocrites in todays Gospel”.

:cool:
 
I would like to ask this question:
Today’s gospel reading criticized the man who acted sorrowful, but I would like to ask, Who feels sorrowful?:confused:
I feel energized and quite happy despite my grumbling stomache. I am not dressed any differently than usual, I am clean, I smile just as much as usual, the only difference is that those around me know that I have gone to Church. I do not feel that this is proud, well, maybe it is, but what is wrong with being proud that we are Catholic?:confused:
 
RLT said:
This thread is totally unhelpful for a scrupulous person.
After reading the whole thing so far it comes down to this.

“If I wash off the ashes I am denying God and my faith for fear of embarassment and persecution.”
or
“If I don’t wash off the ashes I am being prideful and showing off like the hipocrites in todays Gospel”.

:cool:
Click to expand...
The lesson from this - do whatever you feel moved to do, wash or don’t wash.

Mind you, being proud of and showing off my Catholic faith is a different thing entirely to being proud of myself or showing off something I’ve achieved.

As St Paul says 'God forbid I should boast, save in the cross of Christ’
 
RLT said:
This thread is totally unhelpful for a scrupulous person.
After reading the whole thing so far it comes down to this.

“If I wash off the ashes I am denying God and my faith for fear of embarassment and persecution.”
or
“If I don’t wash off the ashes I am being prideful and showing off like the hipocrites in todays Gospel”.

:cool:
Click to expand...
Here’s my response: do what you want to do for the reasons you want to do it. No choice is better than another. There’s no proscribed action, so do what works for you.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top