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| Frank: "You look like a ghost." |
I have a new nickname for Ash Wednesday besides Catholic identification day. If you work in a secular place and you get your ashes early, it's the day you become a "Catholic magnet." I swear.
Here are the responses I've gotten to my ashes so far:
College intern: "Oh! I need to get my ashes too!" and went on to tell me about Mass times at her parish. I had no idea she was Catholic.
Co-worker: "It's always a bummer when Ash Wednesday comes because my wife and I have to come up with meatless meals twice in one week!" I did not know he was Catholic.
Random Hispanic lunch guy (pointing at my head): "You got yours early! Great!" Thank you, random citizen!
I work at possibly the most secular place you can imagine and I expected to see nobody else with ashes today.
I was right. I haven't seen anybody else with ashes.
But what I did NOT expect was that all the other Catholics I encounter would come crawling out of the woodwork to let me know, "Hey! I'm Catholic too!"
It's kinda cool.
AWESOME. Yes, it does bring out the best in some people! :) Haha, I remember I went to Rome over Ash Wednesday and we said Mass and we were walking around the Vatican, scoffing (I admit), "Well, we'll see who's *really* Catholic and who's just here for the view!" NOT. A. SINGLE. PERSON. HAD. (okay, the all-caps thing is a bit annoying) - ashes on their forehead. So we were standing around feeling slightly miffed about the world, and then we met up with a seminarian from the US, and he's all like, "Oh, yeah, here in Europe, they put just a little bit of the ash on your head." And then we facepalmed. Anyway. I love your blog!!! :) Have a wonderful day! :) God bless.
ReplyDeleteThanks Peregrin!! Ha, that's too funny. I would have thought the same thing though. It's interesting how these customs can really differ country to country!
DeleteI was grocery shopping last night with my ashes (which were exceptionally dark this year) spread all over my forehead and was so excited to see a young couple in the produce aisle also sporting their ashes. We waved at each other and smiled, feeling a bit united as Catholics. Very cool.
ReplyDeleteAw, that's so nice! I would have been so excited. I actually never did run into anyone else with ashes all day, although I did see a few people on the street with them.
DeleteThat is really cool!! What a great opportunity to meet other Catholics.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, if you're a ghost you're quite the lovely one. :)
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