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What Is The Meaning of Ash Wednesday, You Catholics?
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Every year around this time, my Catholic friends start getting very excitable and giddy, all due to what’s known as Ash Wednesday and Lent.
As far as I could tell over the years, the meaning of Ash Wednesday is to signify that you’re just a mortal sinner. That’s fine. Every day of the year, most people on this Earth (especially those in foreign cultures that worship false gods) are pretty deep up to their necks in sin.
We’re all born with original sin due to the antics of women, Eve in particular, not being able to resist temptation and tricking men to fall into sin with them. That’s pretty typical behavior of women, but that’s not the topic of today’s informative piece and discussion on Ash Wednesday.
What I have a problem with, and don’t take this the wrong way, is all the uncomfortable mystic stuff that’s associated with Ash Wednesday. Take for instance the fact that in addition to going to their mass celebrations today to say chants in what I think is Latin, the Catholics also allow their priests to Sanchez up their foreheads with actual ashes!
You’ll see it if you look around today. There will be many people walking around, with an appearance of an almost tidy chimney sweep as they have soot upon their brow. I know symbolism is important to many religions, but I do find that to be somewhat improper for a Christian.
Just think about how we perceive the good, misguided people in India for those dots they pot in the middle of their foreheads? That third eye? That’s how others may see us putting ashes on our forehead, as a symbol of recognizing sin. Do we really have to go through so many motions to express a concept that’s true every day of the week?
I don’t think so.
My friends also always ‘give up’ something for Lent as well. This week through Twitter and the other social networks like the new Facebook monstrosity, I’ve kept tabs on my Catholic colleagues. They’ve been giving up stuff like movies, chocolate, shopping, SEX (those who are not even married to boot), drinking, smoking and the list goes on.
Do you see the problem with that? All of those actions are things we should keep curbed all throughout the year, every single day. Yet, just because we give it up for one portion of the year does not make it some cute little social item we chat about with friends, thinking it’s going to make us holy for the rest of the year and thereby give us salvation?
Where is the fire and brimstone messages of Christianity today? Sure, proper denominations — say like Southern Baptist — still get it spot on. But much like the Muslims and their Jihad (which means ‘struggle’ from what I’m told, and Ramadan is basically like Lent), I think focusing too much on the days leading up to Easter and a sacrifice that’s associated with those days is being exploited in a modern, shallow culture.
No more is it really a super-sanctimonious time, but rather it’s become a social item to throw into a life of sin. When you have people casually laughing and talking about what they are giving up for Lent, especially when it includes giving up premarital sex, then setting schedules for ‘fun stuff to do’ after you get out of Lent mass and have a free day, I think it starts to lose the meaning.
Catholic leaders need to start laying the law down again. I thought this new Ratzinger pope, with his surviving through the antics of Hitler’s propaganda and all that nonsense, would be pushing hard for Catholics to get real about being Christians. There is still too much tokenism and I don’t think Ash Wednesday or lent has the same oomph as it may have in the past.
That’s why I say the best way to remain moral and sanctified is with tough, dogged determination to live very moral each and every day.
We should always give up the things in life that we know are wrong. We should always correct the errant people who don’t see things our way for being wrong. And first and foremost, we should eagerly talk to everyone about the faith, much as giddy Catholic adults do when discussing their social item of Lent.
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7:22 pm
I cannot stand to ash on this day!!! My holiness and clean nature of imperfection realises just how important I am sinning! ‘I may be unclean, but even Jesus ate the plinth of Sacrement!’ Cor. 1:8. I know I am unclean, but ash! My soul is saddened by this outward symbol of my badness. Must even Mohmed, the newspaperman outside my apartment, know!
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8:10 pm
I’m sorry, I stopped reading when I reached “my Catholic friends”.
*gasp*
I didn’t think you would hang around such neanderthals. Tsk, tsk.
P.S. On a side note, in your “About The Author”, the phrase is “smart alec”, named after a famous pimp and thief (not sure if your kind wants to be promoting such language based on a filthy background), and it’s spelled “Twitter”. And if you want us to follow you, post a link dumb ass.
Oh, you guys crack me up.
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3:59 am
your country eh.
what if i do like what you say??? I think i should be entitled to stay in the native american’s untainted by christain culture’s country thank you very much. =p
mysticsm shouldn’t be an uncomfortable thing.
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8:51 am
…too bad most Christian traditions are based on Pagan traditions that came beforehand….
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5:19 pm
Idiots, this site is filled with idiots. Have you read the NEW testament? god DROPPED the fire and brimestone a long time ago dumbass, time to get out of the cave and stop fuckin your sister.
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11:24 pm
It’s satire, o’course. This whole website is. And, of course, this will be said to be blasphemy on here, I know. LOLNUBS LOLNUBS LOLNUBS LOLNUBS
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4:19 am
Ash Wednesday is a symbolic day during which Catholics start a period of preparation for Easter, aka “The Day Jesus Christ Resurrected From Death”.
The “Ash” you talk about is the remains of olive branches that where previously blessed and then burnt. It symbolize penitence and the “chants” you mentioned are pleads for forgiveness and they are not sung in Latin. After the Second Concilium Catholics have abandoned Latin in favour of the original language of th country, like, Italian, English or German, wherever you are. During the Holy Mass, between the lecture on the Godspell and the ritual of bread and wine (don’t know the name in English, in Italian is “consacrazione”) people quietly line up in front of the altar for the ritual of the Ash, which consists in the priest dropping an insignificant amount of blessed ash on you head, as a ritual of purification before Lent starts. The Giving Up thing is another method of asking forgiveness. Young children are thought to give up things like chocolate or other things that they like. (I used to drop all kind of pastries and Playstation too. Yeah I was raised Catholic) Adults usually drop vices like smoke, alchol, or even pre-marital sex. It may sound stupid doing it for 40 days only, but since for Catholics Easter has a deeper meaning than for others, even the smallest thing is appreciated. There’s the “holy week” too, starting one week before actual Easter. A week with special masses with special ritual such as the Via Crucis (road of the cross), a special ritual durin which people gather to prey following an ideal path of Jesus to the crucifixion. it’s the last mass ritual before the blessing of the light, done during the night between saturday and sunday. the fire that is blessed during this night will never been estinguished during the year, and it’s essential for baptisims and other rituals like Confirmations and the blessing of the dying.
Hope I have been clear
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