Fr. Richard Kunst, Curator
Ashes, Of Course, but There’s More to Get from Lent
Years ago one of my seminary professors cited a study listing the most well-attended Masses of the year. The first two were obvious — Christmas and Easter — but the third and fourth most attended Masses were a bit of a surprise to me at the time. They were Palm Sunday and Ash Wednesday.
I cannot remember the details of the study or who performed it, but after years of experience I must say I concur. My teacher followed up with a cynical comment, saying more people come to those Masses because they get something, namely palms on Palm Sunday and ashes on Ash Wednesday.
Let us take a look at the use of ashes and their history in our Catholic faith. Ash Wednesday is not even a “holy day of obligation,” but don’t tell non-readers that!
Certainly our use of ashes comes from the Jewish faith, as so many of our practices do. We can look back at the Old Testament and see many examples of their use, and when they were used it was to signify one of two things, our mortality or penance for sins committed.
The distribution of ashes in our Catholic faith reflects this reality. Consider the two formulas we can choose when applying them to the faithful’s foreheads: The person distributing the ashes can say either “repent and believe in the Gospel,” which has the theme of penance, or “remember, you are dust and to dust you will return,” which represents our mortality.
Mortality has long been a theme in our Catholic tradition and art. As I have mentioned before, some of the most prominent decorative characteristics in old European parishes are skulls, crossbones and full skeletons. Imagine if your pastor were to have a large skeleton painted on the wall of your parish! But that is a very popular decoration in Europe. The purpose is to remind us of what the ashes remind us of today: We are dust.
The ordinary minister of the distribution of ashes is either the priest or a deacon. If necessary, a layperson is also permitted to distribute. The ashes used are either from the previous year’s blessed palms or from an olive tree.
The Catholic Church has used ashes in its liturgy since at least as early as the tenth century, and of all the rich symbols we have in our faith, the ashes we apply on the first day of Lent are among the most powerful. But Ash Wednesday is only the start. This powerful symbol ushers in the holy season of Lent, which gives us a great opportunity to rely more on God and to get closer to him.
During Lent, many if not most of us will “give something up” as a small penance to get into the spirit of the season, and that is completely laudable and even expected of us. But sometimes our energy in that direction can be misguided.
I once knew someone who quit eating all solid foods during the whole of Lent and only drank malts and energy drinks, all along making a big show of it. That is certainly not the purpose of the season or the fast.
Giving up something like sweets or soda can become an issue of pride or even bragging, which becomes counter-productive to what we are about during this time of year. If we are to use Lent to get closer to God, there might be a better way.
Adding things to our lives and spirituality might be better than taking them away. It would be far better to have more people go to weekday Mass than to have fewer cookies eaten. It would be better to have more people go to the Stations of the Cross than to have less pop drunk.
We should be looking for extra things to enrich our faith during this time. Certainly our parishes offer more opportunities.
This is the busiest time of the year for us priests. I would challenge you not to have Ash Wednesday Mass be the only extra thing you do all Lent. Easter is the greatest and most beautiful day of the year on the Christian calendar. It becomes even more so when we put a lot into our Lenten observance.
“Without God, all that remains of man’s greatness is that little pile of dust, in a dish, at one side of the altar, on Ash Wednesday. It is what the Church marks us with on our forehead, as though with our own substance.” (J. Leclercq, A Year with the Liturgy)
—Father Richard Kunst
Gregorio ALLEGRI – “Miserere mei, Deus”
The Choir of New College, Oxford (Edward HIGGINBOTTOM)
(This is the first psalm sung in Lent & the last on Holy Saturday night.)
Psalm 51 (50):
3. Miserere mei Deus secundum magnam misericordiam tuam
et secundum multitudinem miserationum tuarum dele iniquitatem meam
4. Amplius lava me ab iniquitate mea et a peccato meo munda me
5. Quoniam iniquitatem meam ego cognosco et peccatum meum contra me est semper
6. Tibi soli peccavi et malum coram te feci ut justificeris in sermonibus tuis et vincas cum judicaris
7. Ecce enim in iniquitatibus conceptus sum et in peccatis concepit me mater mea
8. Ecce enim veritatem dilexisti incerta et occulta sapientiae tuae manifestasti mihi
9. Asparges me hysopo et mundabor lavabis me et super nivem dealbabor
10. Auditui meo dabis gaudium et laetitiam et exultabunt ossa humiliata
11. Averte faciem tuam a peccatis meis et omnes iniquitates meas dele
12. Cor mundum crea in me Deus et spiritum rectum innova in visceribus meis
13. Ne proicias me a facie tua et spiritum sanctum tuum ne auferas a me
14. Redde mihi laetitiam salutaris tui et spiritu principali confirma me
15. Docebo iniquos vias tuas et impii ad te convertentur
16. Libera me de sanguinibus Deus Deus salutis meae et exultabit lingua mea justitiam tuam
17. Domine labia mea aperies et os meum adnuntiabit laudem tuam
18. Quoniam si voluisses sacrificium dedissem utique holocaustis non delectaberis
19. Sacrificium Deo spiritus contribulatus cor contritum et humiliatum Deus non despicies
20. Benigne fac Domine in bona voluntate tua Sion et aedificentur muri Hierusalem
21. Tunc acceptabis sacrificium justitiae oblationes et holocausta tunc inponent super altare tuum vitulos
To the end, a psalm of David.
when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had sinned with Bathsheba.
1 Have mercy upon me, O God, after thy great goodness: according to the multitude
of thy mercies do away mine offences.
2 Wash me throughly from my wickedness: and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my faults: and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified
in thy saying, and clear when thou art judged.
5 Behold, I was shapen in wickedness: and in sin hath my mother conceived me.
6 But lo, thou requirest truth in the inward parts: and shalt make me to understand wisdom secretly.
7 Thou shalt purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: thou shalt wash me,
and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Thou shalt make me hear of joy and gladness: that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
9 Turn thy face from my sins: and put out all my misdeeds.
10 Make me a clean heart, O God: and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from thy presence: and take not thy holy Spirit from me.
12 O give me the comfort of thy help again: and stablish me with thy free Spirit.
13 Then shall I teach thy ways unto the wicked: and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
14 Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou that art the God of my health: and my tongue shall sing of thy righteousness.
15 Thou shalt open my lips, O Lord: and my mouth shall shew thy praise.
16 For thou desirest no sacrifice, else would I give it thee: but thou delightest not in burnt-offerings.
17 The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit: a broken and contrite heart, O God, shalt thou not despise.
18 O be favourable and gracious unto Sion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifice of righteousness, with the burnt-offerings and oblations: then shall they offer young bullocks upon thine altar.
