It was interesting for me....I have a part-time job at a fabric and craft store and I worked yesterday (Ash Wed). I went to Mass with my 2 daughters' at their school in the morning, so I had ashes on my forehead all day. Not one for washing them off until bedtime, I bravely wore them here in the 'bible-belt" south.Here are some of the more interesting reactions I got during the day:
1. Staring at my forehead, a clerk said, "Did you know someone wrote on you....like at a wild party last night maybe?" She was dead serious! "No, I went to Mass this morning...it's Ash Wednesday" smiling.
2. Knowing I'm a devout Catholic, a fellow crafter(who was raised Catholic, but is now a 'born-again Christian) came in to the store bearing candy and put one in front of me and said, "Hope I'm not messing up your Lent with this chocolate, am I?" with a huge cheeky grin. "No," I said, "there is much more to Lent than just giving up foods and I'm not giving up chocolate, thanks!"....to her chagrin. :)
3. An older male customer, looking up at my forehead, said "what's that?" "It's ashes." "Ashes!?" "Yes, I'm a Catholic and it's Ash Wednesday." "They really use ashes?" "Yes, we burn last year's palms from Palm Sunday and use them for today." smiling. "Wow, I didn't know they actually used ashes." "Yep!" I said proudly and went back to work.
4. Later, at the grocery store checkout line, one of the baggers, a young man looked at me and said, "Oh, man, my mom is going to be mad that I didn't go to Church today." "Well, there's 7:00 Mass tonight." "Yeah" he said, "I forgot it was Ash Wednesday and I have to work."
Not sure if I planted any seeds, answered any questions, or stirred any feelings of faith, God, and Christianity yesterday, but I tried.
7 comments:
Loved all those exchanges and yes, you were definitely planting seeds. Thank you for being brave! :)
Way to go!
Great post! and I'm proud of you, too. To my chagrin, I'm not that brave, but I'm getting there.
The young man who missed Mass because he had to work is probably one of many Catholics who don't realize it's not a Holy Day of Obligation.
Good job. Never know when the seeds will take root or if you are watering seeds already there for conversion, reversion, etc. All you can do is witness as you did. Love when someone has the guts to not wash them off.
Good work, ebeth!
Hopefully you planted some seeds with your witness to the Catholic faith. :-)
May this Lent bring you closer to the Lord!
Evan
Wonderful! We only have the evening Ash Wednesday Mass at our parish and so its ashes on and then off to bed. No opportunities for sharing the faith with non-Catholics, unfortunately. I have always thought about how many conversations about the Catholic Faith would come up if only I would go about my day with ashes on. Truly an opportunity to teach.
Oh, and just to let you know, I'm not at Saintbound Sinner anymore. I see you have the link up on your sidebar. (Thank you BTW!) I'm now at Peace Love Religion (http://www.peacelovereligion.blogspot.com/)
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