Recently there was some discussion on Facebook of how ashes should be placed on the head, with some folks thinking that the form of the cross is mandatory.
It isn’t. There is no set form, and in some countries–like Italy–the norm is to sprinkle ashes on the top of the head.
Today I ran across a picture of Pope Francis doing that, and I thought I’d share it to document the diversity of global practice on this point.
This Sunday is the first Sunday of Lent, and we read about events that occurred at the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry.
Following his baptism, Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness—his own, personal equivalent of Lent.
It was a time of preparation for the beginning of his public preaching in Galilee.
Here are 9 things to know and share . . .
1) How does Mark describe what happens after Jesus is baptized?
In Mark 1:12, we encounter the puzzling statement, “The Spirit immediately drove him [Jesus] out into the wilderness.”
The fact that Jesus responds to the initiative of the Holy Spirit reveals the cooperation of the three Persons of the Trinity.
2) Why does Mark say that Jesus went into the wilderness? He was already in the wilderness, for he had come to John to be baptized (1:4-5).
The statement must mean that, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Jesus went even farther into the wilderness than had John, in the way Christianity surpasses the movement that John initiated. By going to a more remote place, Jesus removed himself even farther from corrupt society for an even greater encounter with God.
Jesus remains in the wilderness for forty days, a period that echoes the forty days Moses spent on the mountain (Exodus 34:28) as well as other periods of forty days or years in the Old Testament.
3) What is Jesus doing in the desert, and what can we learn from it?
Mark does not mention the fact that Jesus fasts while in the desert (Matthew and Luke supply that information), but it is clear that Jesus performs spiritual exercises in the desert. This is why the Holy Spirit brought him into the desert: He is on retreat to prepare for his ministry.
When we go on retreat in our own lives, we often find ourselves beset by distractions that pull us away from the encounter with God that we are seeking, and this is what happens here. While he is in the desert, Jesus is “tempted by Satan.”
Mark records only this basic fact—more information is provided by Matthew and Luke—but it is still an astonishing claim. Mark’s readers would certainly have wanted to know more about this if it was the first time they had encountered it. This suggests that it was not the first time—that they were already familiar with the incident, presumably from the preaching of Peter.
In his brief account of Jesus’ time in the desert, Mark also points out that Jesus “was with the wild beasts,” indicating the physical danger present in the wilderness and thus Jesus’ abandonment to and trust in his Father. This trust was not misplaced, as shown by the next thing Mark records: “the angels ministered to him.”
In the same way, we can trust God to provide what we need when we are surrounded by danger.
4) What does it mean for the devil to “tempt” Jesus? How could Jesus, who is all good, be tempted by the devil? Why would the devil even bother?
Sin is irrational, and so there is something irrational or disordered about what the devil does here. The question is: What is disordered?
It could be that the devil is trying to put pressure on Jesus out of sheer spite, without hoping to actually corrupt him. On the other hand, the devil may have the irrational arrogance to think that he could corrupt the infinitely holy Son of God.
5) Could we look at this event another way?
Yes. The Greek verb used here (peirazō) means not only tempt but also test. The devil can be seen as testing Jesus—putting pressure on Jesus to see whether it is possible to get him to give in to sin.
If the devil knows that it is impossible to get the Son of God to sin then, presumably, he would be doing it to find out if Jesus is the Son of God. By passing the test, Jesus shows that he is.
6) How else can we look at this event?
Some have viewed it as a recapitulation of prior events in salvation history. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explores this way of looking at the text:
“The evangelists indicate the salvific meaning of this mysterious event: Jesus is the new Adam who remained faithful just where the first Adam had given in to temptation. Jesus fulfills Israel’s vocation perfectly: in contrast to those who had once provoked God during forty years in the desert, Christ reveals himself as God’s Servant, totally obedient to the divine will. In this, Jesus is the devil’s conqueror: He ‘binds the strong man’ to take back his plunder (Mark 3:27). Jesus’ victory over the tempter in the desert anticipates victory at the Passion, the supreme act of obedience of his filial love for the Father” (CCC 539).
Similarly, St. John Paul II said:
“Jesus knew that he was sent by the Father to establish God’s kingdom in the world of humanity. On the one hand, for this purpose he accepted being tempted in order to take his proper place among sinners. He had already done this at the Jordan, in order to serve as a model for all (cf. St. Augustine, De Trinitate 4:13). But on the other hand, by virtue of the Holy Spirit’s anointing, he reached into the very roots of sin and defeated the one who is the ‘father of lies’ (John 8:44). Thus he willingly went to face the temptations at the start of his ministry, complying with the Holy Spirit’s impulse” (John Paul II, General Audience, July 21, 1990).
7) How does Jesus’ public ministry begin?
In Mark 1:14, Mark introduces the public ministry of saying that it happened “after John was arrested.”
This, again, seems to expect the audience to already know the story of John the Baptist. Mark does not even tell us who arrested John. (It was Herod Antipas, one of the sons of Herod the Great and the tetrarch of Galilee, as we learn in Luke 3:19-20).
Mark does recount what happened after John was arrested: “Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God.”
Since Herod was the ruler of Galilee, this was a daring move on Jesus’ part. He is going into the territory of the man who arrested John, and, in a sense, taking up John’s ministry and carrying it further, as John had prophesied.
8) What does it mean when it says that Jesus preached “the gospel of God”?
The reference to Jesus preaching “the gospel of God” does not mean that he preached the existence of God to people who did not believe in him. His audience was Jewish and already worshipped God.
Instead, “the gospel of God” refers to the news that a new phase in God’s plan of the ages is beginning. This is spelled out, as Mark records Jesus preaching, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel.”
“The time” that has been fulfilled is the time of waiting for “the kingdom of God” to appear.
The Jewish people already regarded God as the King of the entire world (Ps. 47:2). They regarded him even more particularly as the Ruler of the Jewish nation (see Josephus, Against Apion 2:18; it is in this passage that Josephus coins the word theocracy to describe the rule of Israel by God).
But it was clear that, despite the rule of God over all creation and over Israel, there are other, worldly powers that appear to rule. These include Caesar and his minions in the Holy Land, such as Herod Antipas in Galilee and Pontius Pilate in Judea.
Jesus’ announcement that the kingdom of God is at hand means that God will now manifest his kingly rule in a new way.
9) How would God’s rule be manifested in a new way?
Many in Jesus’ audience would have understood this in a purely political sense—that the reign of the Romans would be extinguished. But this was not Jesus’ plan, for as he says in John: “My kingship is not of this world” (John 18:36).
Nevertheless, as the Messiah, Jesus manifests in his own person the kingdom of God. He makes it present, and so it is “at hand.” As the mystical body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23, Col. 1:18), the Church is also an expression of this kingdom, which grows as the Church does.
The Second Vatican Council stated:
“The Church . . . receives the mission to proclaim and to spread among all peoples the Kingdom of Christ and of God and to be, on earth, the initial budding forth of that kingdom. While it slowly grows, the Church strains toward the completed Kingdom and, with all its strength, hopes and desires to be united in glory with its King” (Lumen Gentium 5).
There is thus a sense in which the kingdom of God became present with the coming of Christ, a sense in which it grows throughout history, and a sense in which it will find its fulfillment at the Second Coming of Christ.
Ash Wednesday is upon us again!
Here are 9 things you need to know and share . . .
1. What is Ash Wednesday?
Ash Wednesday is the day that Lent begins (see: 9 things you need to know about Lent).
The name comes from the fact that a particular rite is always celebrated on this Wednesday in which the faithful have ashes put on their foreheads.
According to the Roman Missal:
In the course of today’s Mass, ashes are blessed and distributed.
These are made from the olive branches or branches of other trees that were blessed the previous year [on Palm/Passion Sunday].
2. What does the putting on of ashes symbolize?
According to the Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy:
125. In the Roman Rite, the beginning of the forty days of penance is marked with the austere symbol of ashes which are used in the Liturgy of Ash Wednesday.
The use of ashes is a survival from an ancient rite according to which converted sinners submitted themselves to canonical penance.
The act of putting on ashes symbolizes fragility and mortality, and the need to be redeemed by the mercy of God.
Far from being a merely external act, the Church has retained the use of ashes to symbolize that attitude of internal penance to which all the baptized are called during Lent.
The faithful who come to receive ashes should be assisted in perceiving the implicit internal significance of this act, which disposes them towards conversion and renewed Easter commitment.
3. How does the distribution of ashes take place?
The Roman Missal states that after the homily, the priest blesses the ashes and sprinkles them with holy water.
Then the priest places ashes on the head of all those present who come to him, and says to each one:
Repent, and believe the Gospel.
Or:
Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
Meanwhile an antiphon or another appropriate chant is sung.
4. Is there a particular way the ashes should be put on people’s heads?
Fr. Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at Regina Apostolorum University comments:
There are no set rules regarding this, and it largely depends on local custom.
In most English-speaking countries the prevailing custom seems to be that the priest places enough holy water into the ashes to form a kind of paste. The ashes are then daubed in the form of a cross on the forehead.
Many Catholics see this practice as a means of publicly showing their faith and leave the smudge on their forehead throughout Ash Wednesday.
In other countries, such as Spain, Italy and parts of Latin America, the prevailing custom seems to be sprinkling fairly dry ashes on the crown of the head. But even within these geographical areas, both customs are practiced and there may be other legitimate traditions as well.
Yes. The Roman Missal states:
The blessing and distribution of ashes may also take place outside Mass. In this case, the rite is preceded by a Liturgy of the Word, with the Entrance Antiphon, the Collect, and the readings with their chants as at Mass.
Then there follow the Homily and the blessing and distribution of ashes.
The rite is concluded with the Universal Prayer, the Blessing, and the Dismissal of the Faithful.
6. Can someone other than a priest distribute the ashes?
Yes. The Book of Blessings states:
1659 This rite may be celebrated by a priest or deacon who may be assisted by lay ministers in the distribution of ashes. The blessing of the ashes, however, is reserved to a priest or deacon.
7. How long do you leave the ashes on?
There is no rule about this. It is a matter of personal decision based on the individual’s own inclinations and circumstances.
The ashes can be left on until they wear off naturally or they can be washed off or wiped off when the individual chooses.
8. Can ashes be distributed to the sick who cannot attend Mass?
Yes. The Book of Blessings states:
1657 This order [in the Book of Blessings] may also be used when ashes are brought to the sick. According to circumstancs, the rite may be abbreviated by the minister. Nevertheless, at least one Scripture reading should be included in the service.
1658 If already blessed ashes are brought to the sick, the blessing is omitted and the distribution takes place immediately after the homily. The homily should conclude by inviting the sick person to prepare himself or herself for the reception of the ashes.
9. Is Ash Wednesday a Holyday of Obligation?
No. There is no obligation to attend Mass.
However, Ash Wednesday is a penitential day and it (together with Good Friday) is one of two days of the year on which fasting and abstinence are required.
See here for more on the discipline of fasting and see here for more on the discipline of abstinence.
One More Thing . . .
If I may be permitted a personal observation, Ash Wednesday is spiritual marketing genius.
Give away free stuff–on a limited time basis–and people will show up in droves.
No wonder Mass attendance soars on Ash Wednesday, even though it’s not a holyday of obligation.
1. What is Lent?According to the Universal Norms for the Liturgical Year and the General Roman Calendar [.pdf]:
27. Lent [is a liturgical season that] is ordered to preparing for the celebration of Easter, since the lenten liturgy prepares for celebration of the paschal mystery both catechumens, by the various stages of Christian initiation, and the faithful, who recall their own Baptism and do penance.
The Catholic Encyclopedia notes:
The Teutonic word Lent, which we employ to denote the forty days’ fast preceding Easter, originally meant no more than the spring season. Still it has been used from the Anglo-Saxon period to translate the more significant Latin term quadragesima (French carême, Italian quaresima, Spanish, cuaresma), meaning the “forty days”, or more literally the “fortieth day”. This in turn imitated the Greek name for Lent, tessarakoste (fortieth), a word formed on the analogy of Pentecost (pentekoste), which last was in use for the Jewish festival before New Testament times.
The Universal Norms state:
28. The forty days of lent run from Ash Wednesday up to but excluding the Mass of the Lord’s Supper exclusive.
This mean that Lent begins at 12:01 a.m. on Ash Wednesday and runs to just before the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on the evening of Holy Thursday. As soon as the Mass of the Lord’s Supper starts, it’s a new liturgical season: Triduum.
No, it’s actually a little longer than forty days. The number is approximative, for spiritual purposes.
More info on the precise number of days here.
Yes. See question 1 for the duration of Lent. It runs from Ash Wednesday to Holy Thursday. No exceptions are made for Sundays.
Furthermore:
30. The Sundays of this time of year are called the First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Sundays of Lent [emphasis added]. The Sixth Sunday, on which Holy Week begins, is called, “Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord.”
Pope Benedict explains:
Lent recalls the forty days of our Lord’s fasting in the desert, which He undertook before entering into His public ministry. We read in the Gospel: “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry” (Mt 4,1-2). Like Moses, who fasted before receiving the tablets of the Law (cf. Ex 34,28) and Elijah’s fast before meeting the Lord on Mount Horeb (cf. 1 Kings19,8), Jesus, too, through prayer and fasting, prepared Himself for the mission that lay before Him, marked at the start by a serious battle with the tempter [Message for Lent 2009].
Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of fast. The law of fast binds those who are from 18 to 59 years old, unless they are excused for a sufficient reason (e.g., a medical condition that requires more frequent food, etc.).
According to the Church’s official rules (as opposed to someone’s personal summary of them):
The law of fasting allows only one full meal a day, but does not prohibit taking some food in the morning and evening, observing—as far as quantity and quality are concerned—approved local custom [Apostolic ConstitutionPaenitemini, Norms, III:2].
The system of mitigated fasting that is required by law thus allows for “one full meal” and “some food” in the morning and evening. The Church’s official document governing the practice of fasting does not encourage scrupulous calculations about how much the two instances of “some food” add up to, though obviously each individually is less than a full meal, since only one of those is allowed.
More on the discipline of fasting here.
Ash Wednesday and all Fridays of Lent are days of abstinence (as well as Good Friday). An exception is if a solemnity falls on a Friday, but no solemnities fall on Fridays in 2015, so all Fridays are days of abstinence.
The law of abstinence binds those who are 14 years old or older.
According to the Church’s official rules:
The law of abstinence forbids the use of meat, but not of eggs, the products of milk or condiments made of animal fat [Paenitemini, Norms III:1].
More on the discipline of abstinence here.
The traditional custom of giving up something for Lent is voluntary. Consequently, if you give something up, you set the parameters. If you choose to allow yourself to have it on Sundays as to promote joy on this holy day, that is up to you.
We discuss the first part of the Doctor Who finale of series 8, “Dark Water”. What did we think of the revelation of the nethersphere that was hinted at during the entire season? And what to think of the true identity of ‘Missy’? Hear our thoughts in this episode of ‘Secrets of Doctor Who’.
Join Jimmy Akin, Stephanie Zimmer, Fr. Cory Sticha, Dom Bettinelli and Fr. Roderick for discussion, analysis and speculation!
Click this link to listen or use the player on the web site.
Links for this episode:
Check out Jimmy Akin’s blog Let’s Watch Doctor Who and Dom Bettinelli & Fr. Roderick’s podcast Secrets of Star Wars! Subscribe to the Feed | Subscribe with iTunes
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In this episode of Catholic Answers Live (hour 2 of 1/13/15), Jimmy answers the following questions:
Use the player at the bottom of the post or CLICK HERE TO LISTEN.
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In this podcast episode we review and analyze episode 10 of season 8, entitled ‘In the Forest of the Night’ and discuss the underlying themes, inside jokes and hidden gems.
Join Jimmy Akin, Stephanie Zimmer, Dom Bettinelli and Fr. Roderick for discussion, analysis and speculation!
Click this link to listen or use the player on the web site.
Links for this episode:
Check out Jimmy Akin’s blog Let’s Watch Doctor Who and Dom Bettinelli & Fr. Roderick’s podcast Secrets of Star Wars! Subscribe to the Feed | Subscribe with iTunes
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
In this episode of Catholic Answers Live (hour 1 of 1/13/15), Jimmy answers the following questions:
Use the player at the bottom of the post or CLICK HERE TO LISTEN.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
“The image of the ‘seamless garment’ has been used by some theologians and Catholic politicians, in an intellectually dishonest manner.”
That’s a sentiment that many Catholics, particularly in the pro-life movement, have expressed.
What’s significant about this expression of the sentiment is the person who uttered it: the pope’s own doctrinal watchdog.
Here are 11 things to know and share . . .
1) What is the “seamless garment” argument?
It’s the claim that Catholic teaching on life is like a seamless garment, so that if you accept one part of it, you need to accept it all.
This is sometimes referred to as having a “consistent ethic of life.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consistent_life_ethic
2) Where does the image of the seamless garment come from?
The image of the seamless garment is taken from the Gospel of John, where we read:
When the soldiers had crucified Jesus they took his garments and made four parts, one for each soldier; also his tunic.
But the tunic was without seam, woven from top to bottom; so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the scripture, “They parted my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots” [John 19:23-24].
3) How has the Church historically used this image?
It has been commonly used as a symbol of the Church’s unity. You’ll see that in various Magisterial documents. For example, in 2007, Benedict XVI stated:
An indispensable characteristic of the Church is unity, symbolized by Christ’s seamless garment [General Audience, June 6, 2007].
4) How did this image get applied to the Church’s teaching on life?
Apparently, the image was first applied this way in 1971 by Catholic pacifism activist Eileen Egan.
In 1983, this use was popularized by Cardinal Joseph Bernardin.
5) What kinds of “life issues” have been proposed as belonging to the seamless garment?
Numerous things. Among them are abortion, euthanasia, nuclear war, capital punishment, and even poverty.
6) Who is the pope’s “doctrinal watchdog”?
This is a common way of referring to the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the department in Rome that is charged with protecting the Church’s teaching.
This is the position that Benedict XVI held before his election to the papacy. Today it is held by Cardinal Gerhard Muller (pictured).
7) Where did Cardinal Muller address the seamless garment argument?
He did so in an address he gave at a workshop sponsored by the Pontifical Academy for Life in 2013.
You can read the full text of his remarks here (pdf).
8) What did he say about it?
He began by giving an overview of the subject, saying:
We are all familiar with the image of the “seamless garment” which is used to illustrate how Catholic moral teaching is a consistent whole – uniting ethical, religious, and political threads in a unified moral vision.
Attributed to Cardinal Bernardin, the “seamless garment” image was used to great effect to root the Church’s response to various moral issues – from nuclear proliferation to poverty – within the overarching teaching on the sanctity of human life, from natural conception to natural death.
9) What did he say when he accused some of using it in an intellectually dishonest manner?
He said:
Unfortunately, however, it is also true that the image of the “seamless garment” has been used by some theologians and Catholic politicians, in an intellectually dishonest manner, to allow or at least to justify turning a blind eye to instances of abortion, contraception, or public funding for embryonic stem cell research, as long as these were simultaneously accompanied by opposition to the death penalty or promotion of economic development for the poor – issues which are also part of the fabric of Catholic moral teaching.
10) Did he say anything about why people use the argument this way?
Yes. He stated:
Often this abuse of the “seamless garment” theory stems from a natural tendency on the part of some in the Church to look for “common ground” with the surrounding culture; that is to say, to emphasize in their teaching and preaching those elements of Catholic doctrine that are acceptable to the non-Catholic ambient culture; for example, social justice, human rights, and other similar issues.
This is understandable and sometimes it is an appropriate pastoral strategy.
But what also must be taken into account is the difference which exists between those elements of Catholic teaching that may be attractive to the surrounding culture and those elements which are profoundly counter-cultural and which Catholics themselves need to hear proclaimed by their pastors.
11) What solutions did he propose?
He stressed that Church teaching must be presented as a whole, without turning a blind eye to particular aspects of it.
He particularly emphasized the need to proclaim the Church’s teaching on human sexuality as found in Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical Humanae vitae, saying:
The experience of the Church . . . demonstrates that where the Church has tried to accommodate her teaching to this secular understanding by deemphasizing the specific witness of her moral teaching, this has lead neither to a greater societal acceptance of the Church nor to a renewal in her own life.
Rather where the teaching of Humanae vitae has been down-played, or worse still ignored, we have witnessed a collapse of family life, an increase in extra-marital infidelity and a diminishment of vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life.
He had much more to say on this and related subjects, so be sure to check out the full text of his remarks, linked above.
NOTE: I’ve gotten a bit behind in posting podcast episodes, so I’m going to try to catch up by posting a number of my appearances on other shows over a fairly short period. I’m also looking to resume completely new podcasts in the near future.
In this podcast episode of Secrets of Doctor Who, we review and analyse episode 9 of season 8, entitled ‘Flatline’ and highlight all the themes, inside jokes and easter eggs.
Join Jimmy Akin, Dom Bettinelli and Fr. Roderick for discussion, analysis and speculation!
Click this link to listen or use the player on the web site.
Links for this episode:
Check out Jimmy Akin’s blog Let’s Watch Doctor Who and Dom Bettinelli & Fr. Roderick’s podcast Secrets of Star Wars! Subscribe to the Feed | Subscribe with iTunes
Podcast: Play in new window | Download