Today is Ash Wednesday for the year 2005, marking the beginning of Lent.
There are those who would have you believe that Lent is the 40 days and 40 nights prior to Easter, but of course that isn't true. Actually Lent runs a few days longer than that. I guess not everyone who invents a religious tradition is able to count accurately.
Christians of many denominations will be flocking to their churches for the Distribution of Ashes whereby the ashes recovered from the burned palms of the previous Palm Sunday will be smudged on their foreheads along with a prayer that indicates that we came of dust and to dust we will return. Yeah, like mortality doesn't slap us all in the face regularly. Like we all need to be reminded that no one gets out of here alive.
The Roman Catholic church also has eating restrictions. Ash Wednesday is supposed to be a day of fasting. You're not supposed to eat more than absolutely necessary. So it's not like not eating at all, but not eating anything that you don't need and certainly nothing you enjoy eating.
And no meat. That includes Spam.
No meat at all on Fridays during Lent. You may recall that back before Pope John XXIII started shaking things up at the Second Vatican Council in the early 1960s Roman Catholics were not allowed to eat meat on Fridays at all. They shelved that idea, but dusted it off for Lent as it stands now.
Back in medieval times people in Western Europe ate an enormous amount of meat, so not eating meat for them during Lent was a big sacrifice. And there was no Ensure to make sure they were getting their nutrients. I imagine a whole lot of people keeled over on a regular basis.
Then again, the water was so putrid as to not be drinkable so the folks chugged a lot of beer and wine. They were probably so hammered all the time they were passing out all over the place anyway.
So what does all this have to do with Jesus Christ?
Well, in my opinion, almost nothing. None of this Lent stuff was his idea. It was all made up hundreds of years after his death (and if you subscribe to the belief) his subsequent resurrection.
Summing up: You are not supposed to have fun during Lent. Focus on the sacrifice Jesus made by dying on the cross and then rising from the dead. Actually, just focus on the death stuff till Easter.
And if you're wondering how the date of Easter is decided every year, it's very, very religious. If you're a Wiccan.
It falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox.
4 comments:
So I always love walking down the street and seeing all the people with ashes smeared on the heads- worn to illustrate their belonging in this very exclusive club. Meanwhile, today isn't even a "holy day of obligation" - on how many Sundays do I see people streaming into NYU Catholic Center? I mean, today there was a LINE. So bizarre. But belonging is so important, and doesn't Ash Wednesday seem like a "I'm more spiritual than religous" sort of holiday?
Those would be the "A&P" Catholics, for "Ashes & Palms". They only go to church when they can get something for free. Like palms on Palm Sunday (a/k/a Bat Day).
Am I correct in assuming that the A&P Catholics are closely aligned to the Shoprite Catholics (Father, since Vatican II it's okay to SHOP on Sunday, RITE?)
but of course they have nothing to do with those who are called to be His Priests and Sisters, the ACME Catholics:
God: I have chosen you to be my personal servants, to take the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.
Chosen One: Aack! Me?
i guess this is as good a place as any to confess i'm a "mcdonalds" catholic. i just "drive through" the church parking lot as a short cut to drop off my kids to school in the morning...
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