I was listening to Gus Lloyd’s Seize the Day.
The topic was a question if people departed Mass on Ash Wednesday after they received the ashes. Many callers said that they saw a significant number leave as soon as they received the ashes.
One caller said that her priest called those leaving out and told them to return. YIKES!
I have to say I would never do that. Am I wrong?
9 comments:
No, you would not be wrong. I imagine the priest was a left-wing loon, you know, a control freak.
If Ash Wednesday were a holy day of obligation, leaving after receiving ashes would be a problem, but since it is not, I am thankful that those who left early showed up at all.
A priest makes that mistake once or twice early in his career. He learns. I did!
However, coming to a dead stop while someone's cell phone is ringing . . and ringing . . . and ringing . . . . and ringing is allowed.
In the authentic Roman Rite the blessing and imposition of ashes precedes the Mass. There is no reason why the faithful should not leave after the imposition should they so wish, and no way the priest would notice if they did.
This call-in talk show host kept asking the question about when the ashes were distributed. In the OF it is after the homily, but he seem to think we have options with that. I do think I heard somewhere that gestapo priests were waiting until after Holy Communion to distribute the Ashes in order to make people stay for the Liturgy of the Eucharist. It is this kind of clericalism, trying to force people to do things in a liturgical setting that has turned of so many people.
I was going to skip Ash Wednesday this year. I was late for work and had missed the morning Mass. While stopped at a red light during my commute I noticed the man in the car behind me had a large cross on his forehead. I recognized him, it was our bishop. I went to Mass at noontime, got ashes and stayed till the end.
The bishop should not have had ashes on his forehead, since clerics receive them on the crown of the head (where the tonsure is/was).
It is perfectly acceptable for a bishop or any cleric to receive ashes on his forehead.
If one chooses to follow the older form, a cleric may receive them on the crown of the head.
'It is perfectly acceptable'. Depends on who's doing the accepting. Some people find 'perfectly acceptable' practices which to others are totally unacceptable. Yes, this is a minor issue, but why change a time-honoured tradition just for the hell of it?
Of course, we all know the answer to that.
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