Why Do Catholics Put Ashes On Their Forehead.

Tomorrow we celebrate Ash Wednesday and no doubt your protestant friends are going to ask why you have a smudged cross on your forehead. Before I converted, my Catholic friends would shrug off this question with the response,” It’s just something that we do.” What an appalling answer that completely neglects the opportunity to teach someone about our Catholic faith.

So why do Catholics put ashes on their forehead?

Anyone who has read the Old Testament will notice that the ancient Hebrew culture expressed grief differently then we do today. Mourning or extreme distress was expressed by throwing ashes over one self. There are many Catholic practices that have roots in ancient Judaism.

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, a time when Catholic ponder the sacrifice of Christ’s death for us. It is a period of solemn contemplation. The ashes on our forehead are a sign of our mourning for our savior’s impending death. There are some Protestants who accuse Catholic of putting to much emphasis on Christ’s death. But please understand, we celebrate our savior’s triumphant resurrection not only on Easter Sunday, but every single Sunday of the year!

The ashes also represent our own human mortality. All of us, will die and be judged. This is a sobering thought. In our contemporary, feel good society we don’t want to be reminded that our existence is not always care free and that none of us are immune to the passage of time.

What a humbling reflection on our life. Some people might even say that the reminder we are mortal is depressing. But we know that ultimately, if we persevere in Christ, that we will have victory.

Repetitive Prayers

I have many NonCatholic Christian friends, so I am used to answering questions about my faith. As long as they are polite, I welcome questions. It gives me an opportunity to discuss a subject dear to me, The Church, and helps me dispel some of the myths that are so prevalent about Catholicism.

One question that pops up occasionally is why Catholics have some prayers such as the rosary when Matthew 6:7 states"And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words." (Some bibles use the phrase, vain repetitions)

Remember Jesus did not say, don't pray using meaningless repetitions like the Jewish people do. He specified "As the Gentiles do." Let's look at Jewish prayer. Jewish people pray three times a day with a set series of prayers. On the Sabbath the Jewish wife blesses the candles with a words that her ancestors have used. Her husband blesses the bread, wine and children all with non-spontaneous, prewritten words.

Yet Jesus did not condemn these types of prayers. Jesus certainly wasn't shy about challenging the traditions of his fellow Jewish people when he found them So, he apparently was not alarmed about using prayer that had past down through previous generations.

We also know that the angels use repetitive prayer. In Rev. 4:8 the angels repeat, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty." God is also pleased at the tax collector's repeated prayer in Luke 18:13 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' Finally we are told that Jesus himself used a repetitive prayer in The Garden of Gethsemane. Three times he repeats in agony, "O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. "

Many Protestants, unknowingly, use repetitive prayers. What is a hymn but a method of singing your prayers to God? Most songs have a chorus that repeats. Does this mean that Protestants should give up beautiful songs of praise? I certainly hope not.

So, if it wasn't set prayers or words that repeat that Jesus was prohibiting what exactly did he mean? The Greek word that is translated as 'vain, repetitions' can also mean babbling. Because our savior was in a Roman dominated world, he would have been aware of the practice of using an oracle to predict the future. The Greek priest would translate the oracle's babbling for her audience.

The word vain also has to be taken into consideration. Imagine this:

A toddler has fallen from his seat and been rushed to the hospital. Tortured by agony and guilt all his young mother can pray over and over is the words, "Please God help my son." Her whole soul is poured into this plea.

While in the hospital, the family is visited by a church member who is very aware that others are listening to his prayers. He prays, not to glorify God, but to bring honor to himself. In fact, he isn't thinking of the young couple and their toddler at all, but how beautiful his own words must sound to those listening to him.(Come on, we've all known hypocritical people).

Which person, the mother or the visitor, do you think that God is pleased with and which one has prayed a vain prayer?

Does Purgatory Negate Christ's Sacrifice?

One common objection to Purgatory is that it somehow makes Christ's sacrifice on the cross unnecessary. I've never understood this. None of us could ever merit heaven without Christ. This is something that both Catholics and Protestants agree on.

As I have written before I like analogies. They help me to see complicated concepts more clearly.

Imagine that your child accidentally breaks your elderly neighbor's window. Your child is upset because he/she knows that he will have to have to admit his mistake to the neighbor. Yet being a responsible parent, you march your child nest door. The sweet elderly lady hugs your child and assures him that she completely forgives him. She isn't mad at all. But of course there is the detail of the broken window. Windows are expensive to replace. You promise to pay the charges but your child will have to work off the cost.

Is your child any less forgiven because he has to clean up his mess? Do you tell the elderly woman that her forgiveness doesn't count because your son has to do some work?

I don't want to get to heaven as I am, a person full of faults and sin. I welcome the chance to be made clean. How merciful and wonderful is our God.

During Advent, I have promised myself to spend less time blogging and on the internet. But I thought that I would post the link to an interesting blog article. I know that during the Christmas season there are some people concerned about the 'pagan' origins of Christmas. For those of you forced to debate this issue, I thought that I would give you some ammunition.

Sure enough, this time of year a variety of Messianics, Jehovah's Witnesses, non-denominational types, and others, are out to prove that Christmas is pagan and those who celebrate it are engaged in sinful activity. I have seen the paltalk rooms and the websites, filled with hefty doses of discredited 19th century historical treatises. I am not remotely convinced by these arguments, because I do not accept the basic logic that leads one to conclude Christian holidays are pagan.

The rest of this article can be found here:http://blog.ancient-future.net/2007/12/christmas-is-pagan-hardly-origins-of.html The comments that follow the author's article are interesting also.