prepasration of ashes for imposition ash wednesday

Not showing piety in public.Please be respectful of copyright. I think Lutherans probably wash it off soon after the service, for the same reason,' he said.

Still, Sabatelli guesses that members of his congregation will not follow the practice of Catholics who keep the cross of ashes on their foreheads all day. But obviously those feelings are changing,' he said. It just seemed to be a very public display. Lutherans historically did not practice this because it seemed to go against what Jesus said, not to practice your piety in public. John Sabatelli, pastor of Christ Church, a Lutheran congregation in the Inner Harbor. That appeal to individual piety was a stumbling block for Lutherans, said the Rev. Because it really is a celebration for the whole church, not just individuals,' she said.

Then it became more intelligible to Protestants. It was the liturgical reforms instituted during Vatican II that paved the way for Protestant acceptance of a ritual such as the imposition of ashes.Ĭatholics started looking at Ash Wednesday more as a time of preparation for baptism and communal reconciliation, rather than much emphasis on individual penance and fasting,' said Blair Gilmer Meeks, editor of Liturgy,I a publication of the Liturgical Conference, a Silver Spring-based ecumenical organization.

In recent years, the focus among Catholics is less on penance and more on Lent as a time of spiritual renewal. In more recent times, Catholics would give up some comfort during the season. Later, the penance was extended to all members of the church, and Lent marked a time when Christians fasted and abstained from meat. During that period, the sinners were expected to perform harsh penance, including fasting, constant prayer, isolation and physical punishments. They were banned from the church for 40 days. On Ash Wednesday, the sinners would gather at the church dressed in sackcloth and the bishop would throw ashes over them. In the Bible, the number 40 is associated with penance and suffering: Noah endured a storm of 40 days and 40 nights, the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, and Jesus endured a 40-day fast in the desert, where he was subjected to temptations by Satan. Religious scholars believe the ritual of Ash Wednesday dates to the ninth century and began as the start of a rigorous 40-day period of penance for those who had committed grievous sins. Ever since Vatican II, we took that stuff out,' he said. Mannion noted that in the wake of the liturgical renewal associated with the Second Vatican Council of the mid-1960s, some of the church's ancient symbols and rituals that were seen as out of date were seldom used or abandoned. Bill Mannion perform the ritual of burning the fronds to produce the ashes to be used today. At their Mass on Sunday night, they brought their palms from home and insisted that the Rev. But members of the youth group would have none of that.

Prepasration of ashes for imposition ash wednesday