Ash Wednesday Musings

I wasn't able to attend Mass early in the morning like I'd hoped.  Instead, I had to wait until evening to go, and I had Vince with me as a result.  I didn't mind - he was actually being phenomenal.  Thank goodness, too, because there wasn't any room for us in our normal spot on account of the PACERS who dropped by to collect their yearly ashes.

*Sigh*

The Mass itself was nice.  I noticed, however, that we went from being an over-packed house before the Distribution of Ashes to being about 2/3 full as folks simply exited the Church upon reception of the ashes.

I couldn't believe it!

Folks were willing to wait come for ashes, but completely neglected to stick around for JESUS in the Eucharist? 

I have to admit being ashamed for them.  I just felt awful that Jesus was witnessing this sort of callousness in His people.  Ugh.  Makes me feel like a jerk for not shaking them all and shouting "You'll wait for ashes, but not GOD?  What is WRONG with you?!"

May God forgive us our foolishness...

Vincent was surprised by the ashes.  He's used to Father Piotr blessing him, but when he saw Father bless me, too, he whipped his little head around in amazement.  His eyes then did a double take when he saw the cross smudged onto my forehead.  He quickly realized that he, too, must've had a cross on his head because he immediately tried to feel around for one.  Ha ha.

For the rest of the Mass, Vincent kept looking up at my cross as if trying to figure out what it was for.  He only tried to touch it once or twice, but after correcting him, he was content to steal glances and smile at it.  He again stooped down as I knelt to receive the Eucharist.  His newest thing is to dip his little hands into the Holy Water font on the way out the door.  Since I always bless him with a little cross on his forehead when we come in, he tries to dip his fingers into the font to then thumb my face. 

Instead, I'm trying to teach him to "flick" the water from his hands onto the floor while saying "for the souls in Purgatory."  Obviously he doesn't have those words down just yet, but it's never too early to teach them to use sacramentals for others!  :)

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