Did anyone hear this today?

[drforjc]

The NRSV and RSV-CE translation of Mark 1:15 says “…repent, and believe in the good news.” Gospel = good news. If you think it sounds too Protestant-y…Just remember which Church was saying it first.

The ashes on our foreheads historically represent repentance and mourning for our sins. It’s appropriate to meditate on our mortality and the transience of life, so the “connection” with Gen 3:19 is there. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust…

Re: Lenten reflections, I also like this notion from The Shawshank Redemption: Get busy living, or get busy dying.

Exactly. The connection is clear: ashes…dust. The words "Repent, and believe… " (while certainly a good overall Lenten summary) don’t have as immediate and explicit a connection with the action of imposing ashes as the older words.

 

[japhy]

The Sacramentary, page 77, lists these two phrases: “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel.” and “Remember, man, you are dust and to dust you will return.” Those are the two phrases (in the USA) which may be used.

 

[YADA]

On the other hand, “Remember,man,that you are dust…” makes a better connection to the action that is occurring at that moment (imposition of ashes)

I was just summarizing the documents of VII in repsonse to the question about whether this was a result of VII…Yes, I believe it is and the summary [my humble attempt to put into a very short reply the theology behind the optional verse].

So you are free to believe the connection is better with the “dust” imagery … it is not a ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ as both are acceptable…

In my diocese [and experience] the second form is the norm used for Ash Wednesday. It is not this form this year and the other form next year as a rotation [like the cycle of readings].

I work with RCIA and have studied the documents of VII. They really are wonderful to read and study.

There are many contrasts to the service … A day of fasting and abstinance from meat coupled with Ashes - a sign of sin [visible], the coming together to pray [communally] while hearing a Gospel reading that tells us to pray in private and wash our faces …

You just have to love the Church

Truly the theology is rich and meaning behind the symbols and rituals complex … but then who can fully know God … we muddle through as best we can

 

[John_Lilburne]

The Sacramentary, page 77, lists these two phrases: “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel.” and “Remember, man, you are dust and to dust you will return.” Those are the two phrases (in the USA) which may be used.

If ashes are distributed outside of Mass, which is permitted in the USA, the Book of Blessings has the same first option, but a different translation of the second:
“Remember, you are dust
and to dust you will return.”
(Book of Blessings, Liturgical Press, Minnesota, 1989, ISBN 0-8146-1875-8, page 625).

The word “man” has been removed.

The Latin text in the 2002 Missale Romanum is:
“Memento, homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris.”
or: “Paenitemini, et credite Evangelio.”
(Missale Romanum, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2002, ISBN: 8820972719, page 198).

 

[japhy]

The Latin text in the 2002 Missale Romanum is:
“Memento, homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris.”
or: “Paenitemini, et credite Evangelio.”
(Missale Romanum, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2002, ISBN: 8820972719, page 198).

Both the NAB and the RSV-2CE have “Repent, and believe in the gospel” for Mark 1:15 (just for the record). I don’t know what the Latin of the 1975 Sacramentary is, but the English translation (from 1985) seems to suffer from the “let’s translate differently from the Bible” syndrome.