Getting ashes on Ash Wednesday seems to be a very popular custom. Catholics are not required to attend Mass on Ash Wednesday, but parishes I'm familiar with, are always full on Ash Wednesday. I don't know the origins of the custom - just that it's a sign of penitence and conversion.

Most of the churches in our town have an ecumenical service on the Wednesdays of Lent. It starts at our Catholic church on Ash Wednesday, so people of all faiths get ashes - it was the other churches that asked for this, not a suggestion that came from the Catholics. We've usually had the Episcopalian priest preach from the Catholic pulpit on Ash Wednesday - and the preacher has usually been a woman.

I got ashes Wednesday morning and skipped the ecumenical service so I could go to a Chieftains concert in the evening - I wasn't the only person at the concert with ashes on his forehead. It's kind of a nice, one-day symbol of "Catholic identity."

I can't say I get any deep inspiration out of the custom of getting ashes on Ash Wednesday. Still, it's an interesting tradition - and it's kinda fun.

Friday night fish frys are fun, too. Many Catholic parishes still have them, especially during Lent. And hey, you can't have fish and chips without a beer, can you? I can't say that it's much of a sacrifice to abstain from meat on Fridays in Lent, and to "fast" by limiting oneself to three meals on Ash Wednesday. It's more of a mindfulness thing, to keep us mindful of our identity as Catholics.

I'm going to a potluck this evening, so I won't bother abstaining from meat if it's served. I wouldn't dream of asking a priest's permission to eat meat, and I fully expect that I won't go to hell for what I eat tonight. It's still generally a requirement that Catholics abstain from meat on Fridays during Lent, but there is no longer a sanction attached to that requirement.

-Joe-