Seen on the Babylon Bee

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent according to the Roman Church calendar. Walt [and Ed.! Ed.] did go church to be reminded that "thou are dust, and unto dust thou shalt return," while the priest marked us with a sign of our Faith. 

Let's not be silly. Those people you saw marked like this are not extremists or terrorists, although many of them will surely vote Republican in November. They are devout Catholics, and probably patriots too!

That little jape is from the Babylon Bee, of course. Our trusted source of Christian satire also features this one.

"Devout Catholic..." HAH! That's good for a belly laugh right there. You won't be seeing any cross of ashes on Joe's forehead. His handlers have strictly forbidden any such pictures less people think that the cross sends the message that his brain is dead! [You mean it's not? Ed.]

As for Catholic... any politician [or even a normal person. Ed.] who calls himself/herself "Catholic" and yet supports a woman's "right" to kill her baby, is, according to even the liberal Church of Francis, not following the precepts of the True Faith.

Click here to read the accompanying article, from the Bee,.14/2/24. 

VIDEOS: Memento, homo, quia pulvis est, et in pulverem revertetur

Ed. here. I don't believe we've ever posted anything special on Ash Wednesday, but the spread of the corona virus, the political and economic turmoil in virtually every country, and the crisis in the Church makes us think that today might be a good day to get serious about the frailty of life and the necessity of thinking about the Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Hell and Heaven*.

In 1091 Pope Urban II ordered that the blessed ashes should be received by all the faithful on Ash Wednesday as a reminder of the certainty of death and the necessity of penance. Nobles and peasants, kings and common people, all participated in the same penitential ceremony that Catholics undergo today. For at least 1600 years Catholics have heard the same words, quoted from God's words to Adam on that first Ash Wednesday upon this earth, telling Adam of the consequences of his sin: "Memento, homo, quia pulvis est, et in pulverem revertetur" (Genesis 3:19, DRV). "Remember man, that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return."

*Here, in four videos, is "Death, Judgment, Hell and Heaven", the mission preached by Father Isaac Relyea at Holy Face of Jesus in Saint Catharines ON last week. May God bless you as you watch it.

Notice to Catholics: Revision to Ash Wednesday rite

The following Notice to the Faithful has been received from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (Latin: Congregatio de Cultu Divino et Disciplina Sacramentorum), the congregation of the Roman Curia that handles most affairs relating to liturgical practices of the Latin Church as distinct from the Eastern Catholic Churches.

In keeping with the spirit of Vatican II, and mindful of the admonitions of the Holy Father, Pope Francis the Humble, to last month's Meeting on the Protection of Minors in the Church (Italian: Incontro su La Protezione dei Minori nella Chiesa), the ritual for Ash Wednesday has been revised as follows:

As the celebrant marks the sign of the cross

on the head of each penitent, he shall say

"Turn away from sin and turn back to the Gospel"

to which the penitent shall answer

"You first!"