Vatican City, 23 February 2012 (VIS) – Yesterday afternoon, Ash Wednesday, Benedict XVI presided over the traditional penitential procession from the church of St. Anselm on Rome’s Aventine Hill to the nearby basilica of Santa Sabina where he celebrated Mass. Cardinals, archbishops, bishops, the Benedictine monks of St. Anselm, the Dominican Fathers of Santa Sabina and lay faithful participated in the event.
Following the procession, Benedict XVI celebrated the Eucharist and the rite of the imposition of the ashes. He received ashes from Cardinal Jozef Tomko, titular of the basilica, then distributed ashes to the cardinals and bishops present, as well as to various members of the faithful. Following the Gospel reading the Pope pronounced his homily, explaining that ashes are “an element of nature which through the liturgy become a sacred symbol, one of great importance on this day which marks the beginning of the Lenten journey”.
“Ashes are one of those material signs which bring the cosmos into the liturgy”, he said. “Although they are not a sacramental sign, they are nonetheless associated with prayer and the sanctification of Christian people”. In fact, before imposing them on the heads of the faithful, the priest blesses the ashes, and one of the formulae he may use to do so refers to a passage from Genesis: “You are dust and to dust you shall return”, the words with which God concludes His judgement after the original sin.
Because of that sin, God cursed the earth whence Adam had come. Indeed, following the creation of the world, God had “formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being”. Thus, the Holy Father explained, “the sign of the ashes leads us into the great narrative of the creation in which, through the image of the dust of the earth moulded by God and animated by His breath, it is recounted that human beings are a unique combination of matter and divine breath. … In the narrative of Genesis, we see how the symbol of dust undergoes a negative transformation because of sin. Before the fall, the earth had a potential which was entirely good”, recalling “God’s creative act which was entirely open to life”. Following sin and the subsequent divine curse, “it became a sign of the inexorable destiny of death: ‘You are dust and to dust you shall return’”.
The earth, then, shares man’s destiny and only concedes him its fruits in exchange for much “toil” and “the sweat of his brow”. Nonetheless, “this curse of the earth has a medicinal function for man, whom the earth’s recalcitrance helps to maintain within his own limits, to recognise his own nature. … This means that God’s intentions, which are always benign, are more profound that any curse. The curse, in fact, was due not to God but to sin; yet God could not but inflict it because He respects man’s freedom and its consequences, even its negative consequences”. However the Lord, along with “just punishment, also wished to announce the way of salvation, which passed by way of the earth, by way of that ‘dust’, that ‘flesh’ which was assumed by the Word”.
The liturgy of Ash Wednesday uses the words of Genesis in this perspective of salvation, “as an invitation to penance and humility, to remember our own mortality; not so as to give way to desperation but to accept, as part of that mortality, the inconceivable closeness of God Who, beyond death, opens the way to resurrection, to heaven finally and ultimately rediscovered”.
“The possibility we have for divine forgiveness essentially depends on the fact that God Himself, in the person of His Son, chose to share our condition, but not the corruption of sin. God caused His Son to rise again with the power of the Holy Spirit and Jesus, the new Adam, became … the first fruit of the new creation”.
“The God Who drove our first ancestors from the Garden of Eden”, Benedict XVI affirmed in conclusion, “sent His Son to our earth devastated by sin, … so that we, prodigal children, might return to our true homeland, penitent and redeemed by His mercy. Thus may it be for each of us, for all believers, for all men and women who humbly recognise their need for salvation”.
Brother Burrito
Catholicism Pure & Simple
Gertrude
kathleen
mmvc
teresa
The Raven
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“Before the fall, the earth had a potential which was entirely good”, recalling “God’s creative act which was entirely open to life”. Following sin and the subsequent divine curse, “it became a sign of the inexorable destiny of death: ‘You are dust and to dust you shall return’”.”
Can someone explain to Toad where dinosaurs fit into this picture?
Just a bit of celestial fun, thinks Raven. But can that really be so?
Did Neanderthal Man commit Original Sin? Hmmmm.
(Maybe that should read, “Was Neanderthal man visited with Original Sin?)
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“Indeed, following the creation of the world, God had “formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being”. “
Are we to take it then, that God also blew into the nostrils of wart-hogs, walruses, wallabies and wildebeests?
Not forgetting dinosaurs of course. All living beings. Including dinosaurs, in their day.
Or did He only blow into man’s nostrils? Would that include Neanderthal man?
(If CP&S is a forum, how come Toad often gets the idea he’s talking to himself?
As he’s said before, he regards blogs like this as a sort of dinner party, where if a topic is raised, it is only good manners to respond, if no more than to try to amuse, and keep the ball rolling.
Has he got this wrong?)
Toad
I don’t know whether the Father blew into the noses of wildebeests, llamas and quetzalcoatlus northropi; he certainly gave them life and they, like us, are subject to death.
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“(animals), like us, are subject to death.”
well, Raven, it would be hard to find a dissenting view on that.
But it seems only humans are subject to resurrection – Heaven or Hell.
Hell, mostly – according to Jesus – or at least not heaven; “Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth into life, and few there be that find it. “ Certainly not Toad, by that score. “We declare, say, define, to every human creature, that if they are to be saved they must of necessity be subject to the Roman Pontiff.” Take that, dinosaurs! (and protestants!)
And none of the fortunate few presumably, will be quetzalcoatlus northropi.
Oh, well. Like Toad has said before, what’s the point of all that waste of life?
Hard to believe it’s nothing but a bit of fun, as you suggest, but we must wait and see.
Orwell once commented that Catholics seem to regard Hell as a kind of exclusive night-club for damned members of that church. But it seems they admit practically anyone these days. What is the next world coming to?
Toad
1. Is life wasted? Not by animals, certainly, it seems to be a uniquely human ability to spend one’s life doing something other than what we need to be doing. The dinosaurs, proto mammals, trilobites and other beasts that have finished their long camino to extinction were not a waste of life: the world would not be what it is without their having been here (both in obvious ways, e.g. without dinosaurs we wouldn’t have birds, and in less obvious ways, i.e. the environment is shaped by the things living in it).
2. I rather suspect that hell’s rate of occupancy has not declined over recent years: we are not better people than our parents and grandparents and we are still attached to things that will drag us down there (I appreciate that I am speaking for myself, here). I suspect that Toad is higher up St Peter’s list of “possibles” than I am.
Well Toad, perhaps many people would be “on the road to Hell” were it not for the Sacrifice of Our Saviour who died for our sins. Through His Precious Blood shed for the sins of Mankind….. (and according to our Catholic Faith, through the prayers and sacrifices of many holy souls), sinners will be given the grace of final repentance at the hour of their death. This is what the Divine Mercy is all about.
The sad reality is: though many will accept this last chance of salvation, there will be those who will refuse it. No one will be forced to accept Heaven and an Eternity in God’s presence.
Nice comment of 08.20 Raven.
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Toad agrees with Mr. W. re Raven’s comment above.
Although his point was/is that many noble creatures – dinosaurs, dodos and even toads, seem to have perished solely to provide an environment or backdrop for that sad specimen, the human being – according to the religious outlook.
That is to say all this effort over millions of years, according to the bible (just kidding!) culminates in us. That’s what it’s all about. Ot has Toad got it wrong again?
Some seem to forget that the Father blew into the nostrils of Dickie Dawkins too. And blessed him with brains and good hair. Unlike those unlucky dinosaurs.
And we are “subject to death” (at least of old age) because WE KNOW TOO MUCH . Thus we are harder to fool by politicians and may give trouble.. This seems to be a law of nature.
Yet I can see the flaws in this…..
Of course dinosaurs only perished in order to provide very interesting skeletons for small boys and grumpy old men to marvel at. And to provide models for plastic replicas in Corn Flakes packets, never let it be forgotten.