ASH WEDNESDAY

As we approach the Season of Lent we enter this Season with the distribution of ashes on Ash Wednesday.

Though this is not a Holy Day of Obligation, it is commonly a well-attended Mass and an ancient tradition where we all join together as a community to be reminded – as one of the invocations for the imposition of ashes states – that “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Ash Wednesday Schedule

Ash Wednesday Masses at Most Blessed Sacrament will be held at our St. Peter site at 7:30AM, 12:10PM, 6:30PM, and 8:30PM (with the UWO Newman Center).

The 6:30PM Mass will be livestreamed on our YouTube Channel at bit.ly/MBSOshkoshLive.

Following the 6:30PM Mass, a Communion Service will be offered at 7:30PM at the St Peter site for those who are not attending Mass in person. Ashes will also be distributed.

Please enter through the handicapped entrance after the 8:30AM Mass has ended. A hospitality minister will take your temperature, provide you a mask (if you do not have one), and direct you where to go.

Changes for This Year

This Ash Wednesday is unique in that we have safety protocols to follow to ensure everyone is safe. The priest celebrant will pray a blessing over everyone before the distribution of ashes instead of receiving the blessing during the reception of ashes.

The Bible has many references to a person showing repentance by literally changing clothes and putting on a sackcloth made from rough goat hair. The person then sat in ashes from burnt wood, and heaped some of those ashes upon their head. This was done as an outward expression of what was going on inside of a person as they repented.  Just a few of many examples:

• Job 42:6, as a part of Job’s reply to the Lord.
• Jonah 3:3-8, the people of Nineveh repenting and fearing the judgment of God.
• Daniel 9:3-19, Daniel puts on sackcloth and ashes as he prays a prayer of confession of Israel’s sins.

Just like the repentant in the Old Testament, we will have ashes sprinkled on our heads. This is a more ancient form of the distribution of ashes that continues in the Church today in much of Italy and provides for a decreased opportunity to spread COVID 19.
 

As you receive your ashes, reflect on how you will prepare for the glorious Easter celebration in just 40 days!

Learn more:  https://bustedhalo.com/questionbox/what-is-ash-wednesday