Holy Smokes!?
So all us Catholics head to mass today for our yearly smudge on the forehead. As luck would have it, an old friend of mine stopped by my office today - his visit was lucky because he is a retired Catholic priest. We are pretty chummy so I thought I'd ask for some special treatement.
After he left, I felt kinda weird. Oops. But it made for intersting blogging so no harm done right? Plus, he played along. Ya gotta love Catholics.
Prep: "Hi Dan! Did you make it to mass yet today?" (I mean, I'll admit, I sometimes struggle for a subject when I see him because he is afterall, a priest)
Father Dan: "Oh not yet" (I suddenly realize this was a stupid question because if he HAD been to church, he'd have black ashes smeared on his forehead)
Prep: (again, struggling for something) "Well, we must fulfill our holy days of obligation" (a.k.a. days we HAFTA go to church)
Father Dan: "Actually, it is NOT techinically a holy day of obligation"
Prep: "Really? Oh..." (suddenly it seemed okay to mock the whole idea of receiving ashes)"Well hey Dan, maybe you could whip up some ashes and just do me right now?" (did I actually just ask a priest to do me?)
Father Dan:(nervous laughter)"Well, actually we'd need some burned up palm fronds"
Prep: (feeling particularly randy) "Here's a sharpie, let's just use this!"
Father Dan: "Sounds good to me!"
After he left, I felt kinda weird. Oops. But it made for intersting blogging so no harm done right? Plus, he played along. Ya gotta love Catholics.
My husband was raised Catholic. We went to some Catholic churches while we dated, but ended up Protestant (Methodist currently, but we are considering moving to a Lutheran church which is a little closer to Catholic). I was not raised going to church; I started trying to find one on my own in my early twenties. I guess I had never been to an Ash Wednesday service during those years of searching. So the first year hubby and I went to an Ash Wednesday service, and I realized there would indeed be ashes on my forehead I was like...Um, OK now what? It's funny how things that are common occurences to people who were raised with religion can seem so unusual when you see them for the first time...But then several years later you wonder why they ever seemed unusual.
Posted by
Anonymous |
1:34 PM
My town is very Swedish and there are several Lutheran churches here as well, and I agree that it is very close to a Catholic Mass.
Yes the ashes thing is a little odd even to me. I usually leave them as long as I can but usually end up wiping it off a few hours later. It's weird to have people talking to you but staring at your forehead. I feel like cyclops!
Posted by
PreppyGirl |
1:40 PM
We do give up meat on Fridays but as far as Lent as a whole it seems like the church these days encourages people to do something positive (rather than simply giving something up). Like, in my case... I will try to go to mass every week (which with the kidlets, I seldom do). Then again, maybe the thing I will be giving up is being a lazy ass on Sunday mornings. In any case, you can bet not too many Irish Catholics will be giving up drinking (they are a LOT like the Cheeseheads!)
Posted by
PreppyGirl |
4:53 PM