Today is Ash Wednesday. Next to Christmas, Easter, and Mother’s Day, one of the most attended Masses of the year. It is not a Holy Day of Obligation, but rather an invitation to acknowledge how much we need God, which is a great start to this season of reflection, repentance, and renewal. The purpose of Lent is to refocus on God and to deepen one’s relationship with Him and see Christ in others through almsgiving (Matthew 25:35-40).
Did you get your ashes in Church? #Ashtag
- Yes
- Nope
- I plan to later in the Day
- Other
I went to a midday Mass, (UK Time) for my Ashes. Visited a popular city centre Church, absolutely full, people standing. The Church is about half the size of a more traditional Church. Amazing to see so many people there. A good mix of ages, both male and female.
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Our parish had a 6:30 am Mass, too early for us. There’s another at 7 pm, but there is rain pouring down here, and the church is two-thirds of a mile away, a fairly long walk in the rain. If it were a Sunday or holy day, I would go no matter what the weather, but if the heavy rain continues we probably won’t go.
I pictured your ashes running down your face in the rain. Good look : )
We have umbrellas, but the wind might have turned them inside out. I have a poncho and a cap to keep the rain off my glasses; that should have kept the ashes dry if I had gone. However, maybe next year if my ashes get messed up I can get a picture for you. 
There have been years when I forgot I was wearing ashes and wondered, “What is this gritty stuff on my forehead?”
My favorite story about getting ashes was the time my Wife, Daughter, and I went to an evening Ash Wednesday Liturgy and afterwards it was late and we had not eaten much that day (fasting), so we went to a local pizza restaurant to get a Cheese Pizza. While there, a gentleman was moved by how cute our daughter was. Said she reminded him of his grand-daughter whom he didn’t get to see much.
Our waiter saw our ashes and it sparked a conversation about how he used to be Catholic and used to go to Church regularly, but had fallen away. Seeing our ashes reminded him of how much he needed God in his life and, by the end of our conversation, he had decided he wanted to return to church. God works in and through others around us, and sometimes he uses me to work in the lives of others around me!
We later asked for our bill and our waiter said that the gentleman sitting behind us, the one who said our daughter reminded him of his grand-daughter, had payed for us and wanted him to tell us that we have a beautiful family.
We left feeling God’s amazing love for us and for everyone we had encountered that night. And it all started with a simple gesture of receiving ashes on our forehead, a sign that our lives are all about God and that we belong to Christ.