Jesus: wash your face when fasting

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AlanFromWichita

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This year for Ash Wednesday I’m going to do a 180 degree change from my behavior on previous Ash Wednesdays.

I will receive ashes at Mass, but if I then go out in public places outside of Mass or other gatherings of solely Catholics, I will first wash the ashes off.

This is in obedience to the one place I can think of where Jesus actually teaches us about external appearances. Moreover, it’s in the Gospel reading today:
Matt 6:17-18:
"But when you fast,
anoint your head and wash your face,
so that you may not appear to be fasting,
except to your Father who is hidden.
And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.”
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I used to like to see how long the ashes would last. If I got them in the morning, I was always delighted when they were still on, in the evening. I liked it when people asked me about the ashes or at least noticed them.

But Jesus clearly is advising us against that, and how apropos that it’s in today’s Gospel.

If I’m wrong on this, then somebody is going to have to explain to me how I could possibly have misunderstood Jesus’s teaching in this area. How can Jesus have really meant, “on Ash Wednesday, wear a sign on your head for all to see that you are fasting?”

I’m not trying to be a spoilsport, but if my words – and/or the words of Jesus – speak to you, then let them be heard.

I’m expecting to have people come on here and claim that I’m ashamed of being Catholic. That’s not it at all. I love talking about the Church with people – even people I don’t know.

What’s better: 1) to advertise oneself as a penitent Catholic who is beginning a season of fasting, or 2) to obey the teachings of Jesus?

I guess it’s partly a matter of if one views Lenten observations and fasting as a social activity, or one that’s supposed to bring our interiors closer to God.

I’m voting with Jesus on this one.

Alan
 
Ash Wednesday’s wearing of ashes is a sign of ‘ashes to ashes, dust to dust’, and the fact that you’re a faithful Catholic.

They are meant to be seen in public, not washed off the moment one leaves the church…

It’s not a ‘sign that you’re fasting’. Anyone who is a Catholic, which is what all people are called by God to be, is going to be fasting because that’s the law of the Church.

And one normally should be wearing the sign of the cross for a number of reasons, publicly. Public testimony of Christ is important. Christianity is being oppressed and removed from the public life. The more signs of it become removed, the more socially unacceptable it is to show any outward signs of Christianity. We should not aid in this suppression by neglect of making the sign of the cross, wearing ashes, making processions, wearing crucifixes, etc. in other words, by neglecting the externals of the Faith.

‘Let your modesty be known to all men. The Lord is nigh.’

Philippians 4:5
 
Actually, I may have misspoke in that it is not ‘a sign that you’re fasting’. I don’t know whether it is or not, in and of itself. I would have to look that one up.

There are times when public fasting and signs of penitence are appropriate. There are times when private fasting and penance are appropriate.

Lent is a time of public penitence for the entire Church. Matt. 6:16-18 is not saying anything against such public penitence. There are plenty of examples of calls to it, old and new testament.

Ninevah repenting in sackcloth and ashes for example. Matt 6:17-18 basically speaks towards Heavenly rewards for good behavior, and that when we are rewarded for something in this life, it can be to the detriment of our reward in the next, as well as to motivations, if we do penance for public sympathy, etc. we are rewarded by that rather than otherwise.

However, if all penance was not public, there would be neither sufficient good example, nor sufficient group peer support. 🙂
 
Shin,

Thank you for your replies. I did not expect too many people to agree with me, and that’s OK.

I think what I wrote needed to be said. At least the question had to be asked.

I’m glad you clarified your point about not being a sign of fasting – because if it is a sign of Catholicism, and all Catholics are required to fast, then it indeed becomes an indicator, albeit indirect, of fasting.

I will consider further your comments about it sometimes being appropriate to do penance and fasting in public. Here, when I say “public” I mean people who are outside the membership of the RC Church.

Thanks again for your time and consideration.

Alan
 
To be really, really sticky about it, having ashes on your head is a sign that you received ashes, not necessarily a sign that you are fasting.

It’s still possible to wash off one’s ashes and go around all day whining and moaning about how hungry he is.

In the same way, it’s possible to leave one’s ashes in place and be the most happy, cheerful, helpful person in the room, despite a growling stomach.

And it’s possible to leave one’s ashes in place and head out for a prime rib dinner.

I’m leaving this one up to personal discretion.
 
baltobetsy, thank you for your time and consideration in replying to my ideas.
baltobetsy said:
To be really, really sticky about it, having ashes on your head is a sign that you received ashes, not necessarily a sign that you are fasting.
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True. Since it is an outward sign, it doesn’t really mean anything internal.

But it does say that “I am a member of the group that [everybody should know] fasts during this season.” It says that whether the person wearing it intends for it to, or not.
It’s still possible to wash off one’s ashes and go around all day whining and moaning about how hungry he is.
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In the same way, it’s possible to leave one’s ashes in place and be the most happy, cheerful, helpful person in the room, despite a growling stomach.
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And it’s possible to leave one’s ashes in place and head out for a prime rib dinner.
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These are all true. In the first, we have additional wrong behavior, regardless of the ashes being washed off – I’d say it’s covered by the same reading because it is akin to disfiguring one’s face. In the second one, sure we can be wonderful company for other people, but how does that modify what Jesus told us to do? In the third, I’m assuming you’re referring to hypocrisy, which is also of itself a problem, in addition to the public wearing of ashes.

So yes, all these combinations are possible. I don’t challenge that. Still, though, I would like to press a little further and ask, how does the juxtaposition of wearing a public sign of penitence with other good or bad behavior, make it a Good Idea to disregard this message from Jesus and wear that sign publicly?

And if I’m wrong to apply His teachings to the case of wearing ashes publicly, then under what circumstances are we supposed to obey Him in today’s Gospel?

For that matter, I wonder why we even have this passage in the Gospel today if it doesn’t apply to Ash Wednesday or Lenten observations?
I’m leaving this one up to personal discretion.
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Yes, we all have free will and our own consciences to attend, and I’m casting no judgment.

If I’m right, then hopefully I’m hereby planting some seeds for further consideration. If I’m wrong, I eagerly await someone explaining it to me so I can quit being wrong.

In my way of seeing things, spiritual truths are usually not fully understood or appreciated through academic discussion but through real life experiences. I don’t expect people to make behavioral changes – especially when it goes against what other Catholics are doing – just because I quote something out of the Bible to them. 😉

Alan
 
I have always felt unhappy about wearing ashes all day, and I agree with you, Alan, it seems to go directly against what Jesus says.

In the pre-Reformation days when everyone in the village was Catholic, wearing them would be a useful sign and reinforcement of everyone’s faith, but not now, imo.

In fact, it can be positively harmful regarding our relations with non-Catholics. How blatant an example of not doing what Jesus says, they can quite rightly throw at us. Of course, I expect the usual protests from some about why should we water down our faith for their sake, but it matters!

As the saying goes, we should be preaching the Gospel with what we do. We have a fearsome responsibility not to put stumbling-blocks in the way of others being drawn to our faith. We should not take the risk of obscuring it with apparent hypocrisy.
 
From the days of Judaism, to the early Church, to the medieval Church, to modern times, the use of ashes has always been part of public penance.

Always. 🙂

"But when you fast,
anoint your head and wash your face,
so that you may not appear to be fasting,
except to your Father who is hidden.
And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.”
 
Shin said:
From the days of Judaism, to the early Church, to the medieval Church, to modern times, the use of ashes has always been part of public penance.

Always. 🙂

"But when you fast,
anoint your head and wash your face,
so that you may not appear to be fasting,
except to your Father who is hidden.
And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.”
Click to expand...
You seem to be missing the bit about washing the face, Shin.
 
No, but I would think Catholics would not miss the 2,000 years plus of discipline and thus authoritative interpretation of that passage.

It doesn’t apply here.

Reading a little bit just before:

“And when you fast, be not as the hypocrites, sad. For they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward.”

It is speaking against people who hypocritically make themselves appear to be fasting so that they are publicly rewarded.

Not against public penance. And that’s not hard to understand. That is the context.
 
I think the wearing of ashes for the rest of the day after receiving them is a great way to silently evangelize. Christ called us to spread the good news and wearing the ashes does this. I understand where you’re coming from regarding Christ’s words about fasting, but I think it’s a little less general than it’s being made on this thread. If you wear the ashes all day on your forehead hoping people will notice and hoping it will bring attention to you and how “good” of a person you are, then yes it would be better if you washed them off. However, if you continue wearing the ashes all day because you want to share your faith with others and are prepared to answer questions about your faith throughout the day then I think it’s best to leave them on. In my opinion sharing the good news of Christ is more important than fasting. Just as mercy is more important than justice. It’s not that fasting or justice aren’t important, it’s simply that there are higher goods.

What if by wearing ashes you happen to start a conversation with someone that eventually leads, perhaps years down the road, to their conversion or return to the Church? Wouldn’t having a small part in saving that soul be more important than pretending you didn’t go to church today? Especially if any non-religious people around you already know you are Catholic, because then they may make the assumption that you didn’t attend church today and this could cause a certain degree of scandal. It could reinforce their negative views on faith. Now, I admit that these examples are extreme cases, you likely won’t help save anyone’s soul today or cause scandal, but it’s something to think about.

If you are truly concerned about this you could always decide to fast on days outside of Lent (which is more connected with fasting in people’s minds) and not tell anyone. Every day of the year we can fulfill the words of Christ you refer to, not just on Ash Wednesday. Likewise it need not even be literal fasting, it could be any sacrifice that you offer up willingly to God without complaint.
 
It is not as if the particular minimal requirements for fasting for Lent today are going to impress anyone in any case.

Unless you do more, I think someone would have to be very easily impressed, that you ate three meals a day, two small ones, and gave up meat a few days.

There’s never been a time of less requirements in regards to fasting in Church history to my knowledge. But then it’s hard to imagine how there could be.
 
jtodisco said:
However, if you continue wearing the ashes all day because you want to share your faith with others and are prepared to answer questions about your faith throughout the day then I think it’s best to leave them on.
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Actually I did think about this, and I would say that if this is the way you feel about it, and you don’t think Jesus’s words apply for one reason or another, then I see no sin in that.

That said, I honestly think the best way to evangelize is to “get in” with people before they know that I’m Catholic, for a couple of reasons. One, Iove to hear what people think and believe, even if they are not Catholic or even religious at all. Once I give away my identity as a Catholic it can keep the conversation from being quite as open – especially if they have an opinion that differs from Catholic. Once I earn their respect and attention as one who is interested in them and what they think, then it easier for me to reveal my Catholicism without ruining the chance at their hearts.

So when they tell me they think this or that, I’m fascinated and I’m just some guy off the street with no particular agenda. Then once they take the bait and start paying me some respect, wham, I reel them in and say, “you know, many people think the Catholic Church does this or that, but I’m a member and I find this to be false because … " or " I think I can hear you; some of what my Church teaches goes along with what you are saying.”

It’s even better if they come out and ask, “what church do you go to?”

So the public wearing of ashes could be another way to raise the subject. Plays the cards all at once, though, so it’s a different style than I normally use on non-Ash Wednesday days, or starting now on Ash Wednesday, too.
Wouldn’t having a small part in saving that soul be more important than pretending you didn’t go to church today?
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You still make a good point, but please be careful that my intentions are not construed as hiding anything. I don’t hide that I take a shower in the morning, but I also don’t wear a sticker that tells everybody I did.
Especially if any non-religious people around you already know you are Catholic, because then they may make the assumption that you didn’t attend church today and this could cause a certain degree of scandal. It could reinforce their negative views on faith. Now, I admit that these examples are extreme cases, you likely won’t help save anyone’s soul today or cause scandal, but it’s something to think about.
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I agree these are extreme cases, but yes, it is something to think about.
If you are truly concerned about this you could always decide to fast on days outside of Lent (which is more connected with fasting in people’s minds) and not tell anyone. Every day of the year we can fulfill the words of Christ you refer to, not just on Ash Wednesday. Likewise it need not even be literal fasting, it could be any sacrifice that you offer up willingly to God without complaint.
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I can get behind this. Honestly, I think the wearing of ashes has almost become kind of a social thing, but for reasons I’ve stated, I don’t think wearing them earns any rewards in heaven. Because of that, I believe if one honestly wants to fast in a way that is geared toward spiritual growth beyond compliance to rules, they should do it in secret.

This year I also decided that I should not tell others what I am doing to fast, lest it come across as competitive, boasting, or like self-martyrdom.

That doesn’t mean I can’t talk about these things in general, though, or reveal things in the past – for example my favorite Lent “sacrifice” was not to give up, but to do extra (ok, so I sacrificed the time – whatever) something. I chose to read the gospels, at least one chapter a day. I’d never read them like a book before, I’d only read readings daily or passages here and there to study a point. Reading them like a book was so fascinating that I couldn’t stop after just one chapter, but read several a day. That was a big turning point in my life.

So yeah, I’m not against Lenten sacrifices, and I’m not even against group sacrifices.

But today if I go out in public, I plan to wash my face first. It will be my first Ash Wednesday at doing so.

Thank you jtodisco and thank you all again, for your time and attention to my issue. Whatever your plans for today are, I wish it is very blessed for all who read this. 🙂

Alan
 
Shin said:
It is not as if the particular minimal requirements for fasting for Lent today are going to impress anyone in any case.

Unless you do more, I think someone would have to be very easily impressed, that you ate three meals a day, two small ones, and gave up meat a few days.

There’s never been a time of less requirements in regards to fasting in Church history to my knowledge. But then it’s hard to imagine how there could be.
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You are right. I used to work with several Muslims, and they take their springtime fasting quite a bit more seriously. I think it’s nothing to eat or drink from sunup to sundown, if I recall.

Alan
 
AlanFromWichita said:
That said, I honestly think the best way to evangelize is to “get in” with people before they know that I’m Catholic, for a couple of reasons.
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Actually, I intended for this approach to model after a couple parables and Bible verses.

I call it a variation of my “thief in the night” approach.
Matt 24:
42
Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.
43
Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into.
44
So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.
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One way I like to mimic this is to try to get in “under the radar” so to speak. Once they find out I’m Catholic, it’s too late to put up barriers because we’ve already broken through them before I let on.

Also I think about Matthew 12 and Mark 3, about tying up the strong man to plunder his house. Here’s how:

If I’m talking to a person who has some sort of bias against Catholics or even religious people at all, they keep their house of misinformation safe by having strong opinions and beliefs guarding them. They are like the strong man, in that they will resist any attempt at infiltration into their minds. Once I get them to invite me into their world, I can bypass the strength of the strong man until I neutralize part of his power – the “evil” power of misinformation.

Maybe it sounds kind of grandiose. I’d like to spend a bit more time to organize these thoughts, but now I have to go take my daughter to school so I’ll leave it like this and clarify later if needed.

Alan
 
I don’t think the ashes function as a sign of fasting. *Anyone *may have ashes on their head on Ash Wednesday. Anyone includes Catholics, non-Catholics, fasting people, and non-fasting people. I think Catholics sometimes forget that some Protestants receive ashes at *Protestant *services on Ash Wednesday. The ashes are not a sign of being a member of the Catholic Church. Furthermore, most Protestants of my acquaintance do not fast on Ash Wednesday.

That said, if the reason you wear them all day is to impress people with your piety, I’d wash them off.

Did you know that not all Catholics receive them drawn on the forehead? They can also be sprinkled on top of the head.
 
Pug said:
I don’t think the ashes function as a sign of fasting. *Anyone *may have ashes on their head on Ash Wednesday. Anyone includes Catholics, non-Catholics, fasting people, and non-fasting people. I think Catholics sometimes forget that some Protestants receive ashes at *Protestant *services on Ash Wednesday. The ashes are not a sign of being a member of the Catholic Church. Furthermore, most Protestants of my acquaintance do not fast on Ash Wednesday.

That said, if the reason you wear them all day is to impress people with your piety, I’d wash them off.

Did you know that not all Catholics receive them drawn on the forehead? They can also be sprinkled on top of the head.
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Yes, I seem to remember reading that they have the ashes sprinkled on the head in Spain.
 
Here’s a few links that I think would be helpful. They explain a little more clearly what I was trying to get at about how wearing the ashes on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday is not contradictory to the Gospel.

This first link is a very brief article, only about three paragraphs on the subject:

onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/Lent/Ashes_Why.html

This second link is a brief (approx. 6 minute) video by Father Robert Barron about Lent in general, but also at the end in the last minute and a half of the video he addresses the practice of putting ashes on our foreheads specifically and why it is so beneficial:

wordonfire.org/WoF-Blog/WoF-Blog/March-2011/Spirituality-Father-Barrons-new-video-on-Lent.aspx
 
The reading of today speaks of doing so boastfully. Jesus was speaking in regard to those who fasted or showed charity in an ostentatious way. They did it for their own glory, not for God. That is why he speaks of this. This is not why we wear ashes today. We are not saying “Look at me! I’m fasting! Look! Aren’t I holy?” Rather, we are testifying to our mortality, our sinfulness, the need for repentance, and the Catholic faith by our appearance. Certainly, one could wear the ashes in a proud and boastful way, but that’s up to you. It’s about interior disposition, not exterior appearance. People knowing that you are fasting is not wrong in of itself. Even without ashes, people could notice a lack of eating quite easily. Are we to be afraid of this too? No. It’s all about whether or not you do this for the glory of God, or for your own.
 
Biedrik said:
The reading of today speaks of doing so boastfully. Jesus was speaking in regard to those who fasted or showed charity in an ostentatious way. They did it for their own glory, not for God. That is why he speaks of this. This is not why we wear ashes today. We are not saying “Look at me! I’m fasting! Look! Aren’t I holy?” Rather, we are testifying to our mortality, our sinfulness, the need for repentance, and the Catholic faith by our appearance. Certainly, one could wear the ashes in a proud and boastful way, but that’s up to you. It’s about interior disposition, not exterior appearance. People knowing that you are fasting is not wrong in of itself. Even without ashes, people could notice a lack of eating quite easily. Are we to be afraid of this too? No. It’s all about whether or not you do this for the glory of God, or for your own.
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I agree with you Biedrik, well said.
 
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