Above photo was taken pre-pandemic
On Feb. 17, Ash Wednesday liturgies will be celebrated in an unprecedented way in the 82 year old history of the Diocese of Saginaw.
Due to the pandemic, ashes will sprinkled on the tops of the heads of the faithful, consistent with a tradition that has been used in Europe for more than 1,000 years.*
This is also how ashes will be distributed across the globe this Ash Wednesday.
Regardless of the many differences seen at Mass since the pandemic began, including masks worn during Mass, no water in fonts and no sign of peace, the Diocese of Saginaw encourages its faithful to continue to pray, and as always, to repent and believe in the Gospel.
*This comes from an article by the Very Rev. William P. Saunders, Episcopal Vicar for the Office of Faith Formation of the Diocese of Arlington. The article explored in depth the meaning and origin of the use of ashes on Ash Wednesday. The full article can be seen below.
Meaning of Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, the season of preparation for the resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday. While Ash Wednesday is not a Holy Day of Obligation, all Catholics are encouraged to attend Mass on this day to mark the beginning of the Lenten Season. During the Mass, all are welcome to come forward to receive the ashes as a sign of repentance and mortality.
The Church emphasizes the penitential nature of Ash Wednesday and Catholics who are between the ages of 18 and 59 are called to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, meaning they should eat only one full meal and two smaller meals without eating between meals. Also, all who are 14 and older are called to abstain from eating red meat (beef or pork), poultry and food made from animal fat on those days and all Fridays during Lent.
Detailed protocols and guidelines to promote safety while continuing to encourage prayer and reverence
The method of distributing ashes this year avoids any kind of direct physical contact with those receiving ashes. Masks must be worn by everyone, including the ministers, during the distribution of ashes. All ministers should sanitize their hands before and after the distribution of ashes.
Receiving ashes during Mass is not required. The faithful can still enter into Lent with a repentant heart even if they decide that receiving ashes is not the right thing for them this year.
| WHAT DO THE ASHES MEAN? |
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Father William Saunders Appeared in the Arlington Catholic Herald, February 17, 1994. |
| The liturgical use of ashes originates in the Old Testament times. Ashes symbolized mourning, mortality and penance. For instance, in the Book of Esther, Mordecai put on sackcloth and ashes when he heard of the decree of King Ahasuerus (or Xerxes, 485-464 B.C.) of Persia to kill all of the Jewish people in the Persian Empire (Esther 4:1). Job (whose story was written between the seventh and fifth centuries BC) repented in sackcloth and ashes (Job 42:6). Prophesying the Babylonian captivity of Jerusalem, Daniel (c. 550 B.C.) wrote, "I turned to the Lord God, pleading in earnest prayer, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes" (Daniel 9:3).
In the fifth century B.C., after Jonah's preaching of conversion and repentance, the town of Ninevah proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, and the king covered himself with sackcloth and sat in the ashes (Jonah 3:5-6). These Old Testament examples evidence both a recognized practice of using ashes and a common understanding of their symbolism. Jesus Himself also made reference to ashes: Referring to towns that refused to repent of sin although they had witnessed the miracles and heard the good news, our Lord said, "If the miracles worked in you had taken place in Tyre and Sidon, they would have reformed in sackcloth and ashes long ago" (Matthew 11:21). The early Church continued the usage of ashes for the same symbolic reasons. In his book, "De Poenitentia," Tertullian (c. 160-220) prescribed that the penitent must "live without joy in the roughness of sackcloth and the squalor of ashes." Eusebius (260-340), the famous early Church historian, recounted in his "The History of the Church" how an apostate named Natalis came to Pope Zephyrinus clothed in sackcloth and ashes begging forgiveness. Also during this time, for those who were required to do public penance, the priest sprinkled ashes on the head of the person leaving confession. In the Middle Ages (at least by the time of the eighth century), those who were about to die were laid on the ground on top of sackcloth sprinkled with ashes. The priest would bless the dying person with holy water, saying, "Remember that thou art dust and to dust thou shalt return." After the sprinkling, the priest asked, "Art thou content with sackcloth and ashes in testimony of thy penance before the Lord in the day of judgment?" To which the dying person replied, "I am content." In all of these examples, the symbolism of mourning, mortality, and penance is clear. Eventually, the use of ashes was adapted to mark the beginning of Lent, the 40 day preparation period (not including Sundays) for Easter. The ritual for the "Day of Ashes" is found in the earliest editions of the Gregorian Sacramentary, which dates at least to the eighth century. About the year 1000, an Anglo-Saxon priest named Aelfric preached, "We read in the books both in the Old Law and in the New that the men who repented of their sins bestrewed themselves with ashes and clothed their bodies with sackcloth. Now let us do this little at the beginning of our Lent that we strew ashes upon our heads to signify that we ought to repent of our sins during the Lenten fast." As an aside, Aelfric reinforced his point by then telling of a man who refused to go to Church on Ash Wednesday and receive ashes; the man was killed a few days later in a boar hunt. Since this time, the Church has used ashes to mark the beginning of the penitential season of Lent, when we remember our mortality and mourn for our sins. In our present liturgy for Ash Wednesday, we use ashes made form the burned palm branches distributed on the Palm Sunday of the previous year. The priest blesses the ashes and imposes them on the foreheads of the faithful, making the sign of the cross and saying, "Remember, man you are dust and to dust you shall return," or "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel." As we begin this holy season of Lent in preparation for Easter, we must remember the significance of the ashes we have received: We mourn and do penance for our sins. We again convert our hearts to the Lord, who suffered, died, and rose for our salvation. We renew the promises made at our baptism, when we died to an old life and rose to a new life with Christ Finally, mindful that the kingdom of this world passes away, we strive to live the kingdom of God now and look forward to its fulfillment in heaven. Fr. Saunders is president of the Notre Dame Institute for Catechetics and associate pastor of Queen of Apostles Parish, both in Alexandria.
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