Wednesday, February 21st, 2007...8:59 pm
Ash Wednesday
Today is the day that Catholics begin the lenten season of pennance. The lenten mass includes a reading from Matthew Chapter 6:
Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father.
A healthy way to carry yourself, no doubt. We can all think of a few people who need such advice. The thing I have always found funny is that this passage is read just moments before we are called to the altar and a priest smudges ashes on our foreheads, marking us so that everyone knows who has been to church and who hasn’t.
I don’t get it. I asked a priest (one of God’s dogs) about it once, and he said, “I’ve always wondered about that myself.” Must be one of those Mysteries; I don’t know if it is Luminous or Joyous though.
For those of you that haven’t figured out what you are going to “give up” for Lent, I have a suggestion. Catholic Relief Services has for a couple of decades run something called Operation Rice Bowl. The idea here is that you pledge to eat simple meals during Lent, and you send the money you save to them so that it can be used to fund relief projects (some gets spent domestically as well). Cardboard “collection bowls” can be picked up at most parishes (I pick mine up over at St. Cyril’s) and usually are accompanied by a booklet.
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