Ashes on Forehead

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pianistclare said:
The disrespect is more prevalent when we ignore what the church recommends for us.
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I agree. When one ignores Christ’s teachings about humility, charity, and love for neighbor, one disrespects Christ himself greatly. It is, after all, his church.
 
CJ(name removed by moderator)my said:
This will be my first Ash Wednesday as a “full” Catholic. How does going to get ashes on the forehead work? Is it during Mass that day or is it an all day thing that people line up for? My parish’s website doesn’t have anything on the schedule about it yet
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My first Ash Wednesday was prior to my confirmation. I had to be in a different city for a meeting and that city had a cathedral. Fortunately Mass was offered before my meeting started so I was able to attend there. While I was not yet confirmed I did go up for ashes but did not for communion.

During my time attending Mass prior to confirmation I was always more comfortable in the pew than I was going up for a blessing. It seemed to me when I did it was more disruptive to the priest or EMHC than beneficial.
 
CJ(name removed by moderator)my said:
This will be my first Ash Wednesday as a “full” Catholic. How does going to get ashes on the forehead work? Is it during Mass that day or is it an all day thing that people line up for? My parish’s website doesn’t have anything on the schedule about it yet
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Attend the Mass and walk up front with everyone else. It need NOT be the prist distributing the ashes with the WORDS: “thou art dust and to dust thou shall return”; or some similar words

Ecclesiastes 12:7
And the dust return into its earth, from whence it was, and the spirit return to God, who gave it.

Genesis 3:19
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth, out of which thou wast taken: for dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return.
 
CB_Catholic said:
I do not think that is correct. Ashes are a sacramental. If non-Catholic Christians can pray the Rosary, wear a crucifix (which I have seen), use holy water–all of which are sacramentals, they can receive ashes. The “faithful” are not just Catholics; there are many non-Catholics faithful to Jesus Christ, often more than some Catholics. The Church accepts these people as fellow Christians by Baptism, even though we are separated.

The referenced article makes it clear that anyone can receive ashes, not what you have stated.
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It isn’t correct. It is taking one sentence out of context
21… 'On the Wednesday before the first Sunday of Lent, the faithful receive the ashes, thus entering into the time established for the purification of their souls…
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It is to be noted that it probably was not the intention of The Congregation for Divine Worship to state who could receive. It doesn’t say only the faithful for that matter faithful I not defined. The entire article can be summed up in the statement
In short, I think the best practice is to simply trust the good faith of those requesting the imposition of ashes and not worry about their motivation or provenance.
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Unlike the case of receiving Communion it is unlikely that any harm can come from receiving ashes, and sometimes God can use these moments to produce much good,Who would have thought that this ancient tradition could become a means of bringing Christians closer together? It is certainly a sign of hope.
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As you note it is a sacramental and as such I have never heard of the Church limiting them to just Catholics. The article cited in context is supporting that anyone can receive this sacramental.
 
Incientially, I found this interesting chart today. It shows US Mass attendance by week. Ash Wednesday had 45.4%, by far the highest after Christmas and Easter, with 26% being the average attendance.
 
liturgy96 said:
Usually it’s during Mass on that day, which by the way is not required as it is not a holy day of obligation. Many people still end up going though because of the ashes; for some reason they don’t mind showing such to others 🙂

It would still be good to check with the parish. I remember that when I was in high school, distribution of ashes was per class/office. A nun would go to our classroom and place the ashes on our foreheads 🙂 Just not sure how such would work in a parish setting…
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My parish tends to do ash Wednsday mass in the morning and the evining so that everyone it the parish can attend mass
 
In AZ Ash Wednesday masses are always packed and holy day of obligation masses on weekdays are not. I asked someone why this is and he said “the church gives away ashes and people will line up days in advance for something that’s free” lol
 
peter26 said:
Incientially, I found this interesting chart today. It shows US Mass attendance by week. Ash Wednesday had 45.4%, by far the highest after Christmas and Easter, with 26% being the average attendance.
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That chart is depressing
 
That’s interesting that most people show up on a non Holy day of obligation! I wonder if they made Easter and Christmas not a Holy day would attendance rise up as well? Random note to did you know ashes for ash Wednesday are made from palm used the previous year for Palm Sunday? I had no idea until recently.
God bless!
 
SanctusSanctus said:
That’s interesting that most people show up on a non Holy day of obligation! I wonder if they made Easter and Christmas not a Holy day would attendance rise up as well? Random note to did you know ashes for ash Wednesday are made from palm used the previous year for Palm Sunday? I had no idea until recently.
God bless!
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Wow! What am amazing coincidence that you would post a link to that particular company.

I’ve had dealings with them before and I would caution anyone to stay away from that company completely. Avoid them at all costs. They have quite a reputation for spamming parishes and other very intrusive and annoying advertising methods. There are plenty of religious goods stores that sell ashes (indeed, all of them sell ashes), and I would suggest readers here to take their business to one of those other stores instead. Doing business with that particular company brings nothing but headaches.

I’ve dealt with them before, and I have nothing but regrets. I will never again make the mistake of buying anything from that company.

So again, thanks for posting the link. If it were not for your post, I would never have the opportunity to warn readers here to stay away from them.
 
FrDavid96 said:
Wow! What am amazing coincidence that you would post a link to that particular company.
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Interesting. This particular user has posted only three times, and in each post, there appears a link to that particular company (and in the context of something that they sell). Hmm… :hmmm:
 
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