Ash Wednesday

Remember man that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return...
Repent and believe in the Gospel

The liturgy today affords the priest a choice - he can chose either of those prayers as he applies ashes on the faithful today. This is my first year being in a parish for Ash Wednesday so I distributed ashes for the first time ever today. Between those attending the morning mass and the students in the schools I look after, I've probably distributed ashes to well over 500 people - and the evening Mass is still to come.

Now, I have a certain affection for the old-fashioned "Remember man that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return" and was always mildly irked as a layman that I never came across a priest who used it. However, as it suited the cathechesis I gave the school children, I used "Repent and believe in the Gospel" at the schools. (I was pleasantly surprised that some of the kids asked me about the whole mortality symbolism of the ashes without any prompting.)

Anyway, probably the most sombre moment of the day was when a mother and child came up for ashes at Mass. I asked the woman whether she wanted ashes for the child as well, and she nodded. It's difficult to say to a babe in arms, "Remember man that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return", but it was more appropriate than the other option. Whether we realise it or not, our death casts a shadow from the first moment of our life.

Forthcoming Canonizations

The Vatican's press office announced that there will be a gathering of the Holy Father and Cardinals to formally promulgate a number of forthcoming canonizations - including Blessed Damien of Molokai.

The story of Fr Damien was a staple of religious education classes when I was a youngster, but I suppose he's not on the new syllabus as the kids I come across seem not to have heard of him. I was discussing him with some of our primary school children recently, and I told them about leprosy and how the lepers had to gather together in an isolated area. I asked the kids what kind of life the lepers had - they realised that the lepers probably missed their families and friends and were very sad to be living in the leper colony. Then I asked them what kind of life the lepers had together. With the optimism of youth, one sharp little girl suggested that the lepers were friends with each other. Would that it were so, but I had to tell them that the lepers did not live together in peace and that their village became a place of drunkenness and fighting. The children seemed to understand that when they themselves were sad or sick or upset about something, they became quarrelsome with their parents and friends. Then I explained to them that Fr Damien's coming to live with the lepers was important - not just because he cared for their medical and material well-being, but that through his preaching and example he brought Christ to them.

Fr Neuhaus

I was surprised that there was no reference to Fr Neuhaus's passing when the February edition of First Things arrived last week. The magazine was obviously put together whilst Fr Neuhaus was still alive, and indeed includes a piece by Fr Neuhaus wherein he discusses his medical condition. I was very taken with its conclusion:

The entirety of our prayer is “Your will be done” — not as a note of resignation but of desire beyond expression. To that end I commend myself to your intercession, and that of all the saints and angels who accompany us each step through time toward home.