Ashes: wipe off or leave on?

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UKcatholicGuy

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I want to get some opinions:

when we go to Ash Wednesday and receive the ashes, how long do you think we should keep them on? I can look at it two ways: if you walk around in public with the ashes on your head, people might take that as being proud, “look at me, i’m a good person” etc. However, if you wipe them off after the service, that might mean you’re ashamed of your faith (to show the public). Which view do you take? Personally I want to leave mine on because I’m not ahsamed of Jesus, but I don’t want to be like the hypocrites in the Bible who show that theyre fasting by making their faces dirty! Help!
 
It completely depends on each persons attititude. Why did you get them on your forehead in the first place? Why are you leaving them on for the rest of the day? Why are you wiping them off? Etc. . .

Being a hypocrite or being ashamed of Jesus is all a matter of the heart.
 
You need to leave the ashes on your head. Do not pass up a single moment to give witness to your aith. If you are ashamed of them, ten you are truly not Christian. DO NOT BE ASHAMED!
 
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Sean.McKenzie:
If you are ashamed of them, ten you are truly not Christian. QUOTE]
right, because that’s your judgment to make…
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Unfortunatly I will have to clean the ashes off my forehead 😦
because I work in the catering industry.

Yours in the Spirit

Pious.
 
Several years ago,i went to a supermarket just after receiving Ashes.When i went to the checkout,the girl pointed to my forehead and asked me what that signified.Rightly or wrongly,i said that it was a reminder that i came from dust and would return to dust when i died.The checkout girl was quite happy with my response.However,the woman in front of me at the checkout
kind of stuck her nose in the air and waltzed off.I’m not quite sure if she was unimpressed by my response or just the snooty type who preferred to "keep her distance"from common checkout girls.It is with these snooty,distant types,i find it more necessary to bite my tongue.They don’t speak to me for long enough,until there is some gossip going around.
 
I remember back in my second year of college, I recieved ashes first thing in the morning. I went to my afternoon lecture (which is full of kids who were baptized Catholic) and they looked at my forhead funny. I looked at them back funny and my Jewish friend spoke up and told me that something was on my forhead as did everyone else. And then the guy sitting behind me said, “It must be Ash Wednesday.” He was Jewish!!! I almost hit the floor. I got alot of questions from non-practicing Catholics and non-Catholics, so I guess it was a good thing.
 
Only your heart can tell you if you are leaving them on for the right or wrong reasons.

We cannot tell you the things your heart can.

Listen in contemplation then decide.
 
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UKcatholicGuy:
I want to get some opinions:

when we go to Ash Wednesday and receive the ashes, how long do you think we should keep them on? I can look at it two ways: if you walk around in public with the ashes on your head, people might take that as being proud, “look at me, i’m a good person” etc. However, if you wipe them off after the service, that might mean you’re ashamed of your faith (to show the public). Which view do you take? Personally I want to leave mine on because I’m not ahsamed of Jesus, but I don’t want to be like the hypocrites in the Bible who show that theyre fasting by making their faces dirty! Help!
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Leave them on. We are Incarnational people. The ashes are a witness, and a testament to others, not only that we are Catholic, but that we are mortal (despite our many technological advances), and that we are redeemed sinners that look to, and are committed to, following after Jesus, who is our hope of eternal salvation.

P.S., Don’t make the mistake of taking Bible passages out of context. Jesus was making reference to the prideful Pharisees of his day who reveled in the pagentry of religiousity, but had not the spirit of the devout Jew.
 
Related question:

If/when one does wipe them off, what is the proper wiping implement, and what is its disposition afterward?

Yeah, it’s dust & ashes, but it is **blessed **dust and ashes…?

tee
(who sometimes feels funny tossing a tissue with a blessed smudge in the trash, or washing them down the common sewer)
 
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burnside:
… It is with these snooty,distant types,i find it more necessary to bite my tongue …
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It is with these “snooty, distant types” that I make an extra effort to speak my mind and defend the faith.
 
tee,

I like to wipe the ashes off with a tissue and then burn it in the fireplace. I don’t believe that that is necessary, but I am like you – it just doesn’t feel right to toss something that has been blessed in the trash!
 
From the time I was a little kid, we were taught that the ashes stayed until you commenced your nightly ablutions.
 
Sir Knight:
It is with these “snooty, distant types” that I make an extra effort to speak my mind and defend the faith.
Click to expand...
What i was alluding to when i said the above was that these people give the impression that they never indulge in any sort of gossip but,somehow,they seem to know so much about other people’s business.That particular woman wasn’t the least bit interested in what the Ashes were about.It was the checkout girl who was being chatty and showing the interest.
 
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