{"id":1338,"date":"2011-03-10T12:32:02","date_gmt":"2011-03-10T19:32:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nettiesworld.com\/?p=1338"},"modified":"2017-06-29T10:25:11","modified_gmt":"2017-06-29T17:25:11","slug":"ash-wednesday-seen-heard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/old.adoptedjoy.com\/?p=1338","title":{"rendered":"Ash Wednesday – Seen & Heard"},"content":{"rendered":"

The observance of the liturgical calendar is nothing new to our family, with our Anglican and Lutheran backgrounds.\u00c2\u00a0 However, this year feels different to me… I can’t say it is objectively different, only that I have a heightened sense of the community in which I am a member, a closer connection with my fellow pilgrims in this vale of tears…<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u2122\u00a3\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Ashes on the forehead of the nurse who helped us transfer via shuttle when mother was referred to the hospital for some testing at her doctor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s appointment in the morning.\u00c2\u00a0 I noted \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I see you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been to church already!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and she said yes, she lives in the east valley and didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to wait as late in the day as she would have to if she didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go till after work, so she attended the 5:30 am mass \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and it was PACKED!<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u2122\u00a3\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 An admitting nurse commented, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m seeing all these people walking around with smudges on their foreheads today, what does THAT mean?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201c thus the outward sign of penitence created a great opportunity for spiritual conversation, something that probably happened hundreds of thousands if not millions of times yesterday throughout the world\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u2122\u00a3\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Over the intercom at the hospital while we waited in ER for various results, the announcement that ashes would be dispensed in the hospital chapel at 12:00 noon.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u2122\u00a3\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Someone from corporate walked into Jeff\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s office and asked, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Anybody know where there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a church near here?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 So Jeff told where his church was, and that the next mass was at 6:30pm, to which the visitor replied incredulously, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153In NY they have ashes about every half-hour!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u2122\u00a3\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Got a text from our choirmaster saying \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Parking is atrocious, come as early as you can!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u2122\u00a3\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Arriving 20 minutes early, the parking lot was mostly full, no handicapped spots so we ended up near the back of the lot.\u00c2\u00a0 I parked us on an end so there was room to maneuver the wheelchair, then left them all to their maneuverings and raced across the parking lot in my eminently speedy manner to join the choir for a few minutes of brief discussion and warm up before the service.\u00c2\u00a0 The pews were mostly full already!<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u2122\u00a3\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 By the time we were singing the processional, people were still streaming into the church, though by that time they were having to stand along the walls, with their little children in tow.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u2122\u00a3\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 By the time ashes were dispensed, all three entryways were packed, and the aisles were packed at least 2 deep.\u00c2\u00a0 I never thought I would see MORE people on Ash Wednesday than I saw there on Christmas Eve, but this was way more.\u00c2\u00a0 And it was only one of six masses held there throughout the day.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u2122\u00a3\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 One penitent, a little dirty and showing the wear and tear of street life, could not refrain from prostrating himself upon the steps before the altar, in extreme sorrow.\u00c2\u00a0 He was allowed to remain there until the servers came down to serve communion, when he arose with a gentle tap on the shoulder, and returned to his seat, tears streaming down his face.\u00c2\u00a0 I felt a great sense of solidarity with that brother, and was grateful he found his way into the church at a time when he clearly needed this encounter with Christ.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u2122\u00a3 \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 After mass, came out to the van to discover that “atrocious parking” meant that even the empty spots on the end of a row can become a parking spot, and someone had parked their beautiful PT Cruiser snug up next to the passenger side of the van, so I had to extricate the vehicle from that spot in order to allow mom to access her door.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u2122\u00a3\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Driving through the nearest Burger King to feed the very hungry tummies in my van, I placed our order of 7 BK Fish sandwiches, and nothing else\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 the drive through clerk sounded utterly unsurprised, and I fancied ours was not the first such order of the day.\u00c2\u00a0 Sitting at the window, I saw ashes on the forehead of the lady ordering at the counter.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u2122\u00a3\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Dropped off the family and then took Laurent to the grocery store for a few necessary items, and wondered if we might see more ashes there\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 did not, but felt glad to wear the mark of Christ on this one day when normally it is not visible.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The observance of the liturgical calendar is nothing new to our family, with our Anglican and Lutheran backgrounds.\u00c2\u00a0 However, this year feels different to me… I can’t say it is objectively different, only that I have a heightened sense of the community in which I am a member, a closer connection with my fellow pilgrims […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,598],"tags":[360],"class_list":["post-1338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catholic","category-netties-world","tag-catholic","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.adoptedjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.adoptedjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.adoptedjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.adoptedjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.adoptedjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1338"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/old.adoptedjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1451,"href":"https:\/\/old.adoptedjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1338\/revisions\/1451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.adoptedjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.adoptedjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.adoptedjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}