Posted on 02/07/2008 6:26:25 AM PST by NYer
VATICAN CITY, FEB. 6, 2008 (Zenit.org).- The cardinal who administered ashes to Benedict XVI today says the exhortations that accompany the rite are not easy to say to a Pope.
Cardinal Jozef Tomko, cardinal-priest of the Basilica of Santa Sabina where the Bishop of Rome celebrated this evening's Ash Wednesday Mass, has been the prelate who administers ashes to the Pontiff for the last 12 years. He receives this task because he was assigned the cardinal titular church where the Pontiff traditionally celebrates Mass for the beginning of Lent.
Like all Catholics, the Holy Father receives the ashes while the one administering them proclaims one of the two traditional exhortations: "Repent and believe in the Gospel" or "Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return."
Both formulae are difficult to say to a Pope, Cardinal Tomko told L'Osservatore Romano. Referring to the first formula, the cardinal said the Holy Father "would have every right to say this to me and to everyone else. How can I remind the Pope of this?"
And it was particularly difficult to say the second "as John Paul II got older [...] It was like reminding him again what he not only knew, but felt in his body," the cardinal said.
"The choice has always been difficult. At times I have used one formula, at times the other. It is a very personal aspect, but also very significant because in whatever case," Cardinal Tomko added, "I must opt for a formula that is neither from the Pope nor from me: They are the words of God before which we should all bow our heads."
Ashes, like dust, "are a very eloquent sign of weakness, of sin and of the mortality of man," and to receive them one recognizes his limitation, the cardinal affirmed. Wealth, knowledge, glory, power, titles and dignities, he said, "do nothing for us."
The time of Lent "is directed toward the resurrection, and also our hope, which is not limited to this life, nor detained by our limits," Cardinal Tomko said, "but rather is based on eternal life that is assured for us by Jesus Christ through his death and resurrection."
And it is Jesus, affirmed the cardinal, who "asks three things of us in this intense time of the liturgical year."
He said Christ asks for almsgiving, "an expression of a more attentive generosity [...] of our love and respect for the needs of our neighbor and those who suffer"; prayer, "which flows from the heart more than from the lips"; and fasting, "sometimes of the body, although today it can imply many modern forms of renunciation."
No, he can’t be putting the ashes right on the Pope’s beautiful white hair!
Priests (including the Pope) receive their ashes on their head rather than their forehead.
Gorgeous vestments!
Agreed. I DO NOT like the vestments that the Holy Father often wears at Christmas, I think they make him look like a Dr. Seuss character.
Oh. Thanks!
I read something about these - I believe they were designed to “blend” the style of the full cape-like really old vestments with the fiddle-back style that later became popular. I don’t know if this particular set is actually an old one itself, or if it was created just for the Holy Father.
To me, they almost look like Orthodox vestments. They’re both dignified and dramatic.
“Remember, Caesar, thou art mortal ...”
“Priests (including the Pope) receive their ashes on their head rather than their forehead.”
Interesting - do you know why that is?
It used to be that a portion of a priests' hair was cut when he was ordained. This was called the "tonsure". (It was originally a symbol of slavery. From there it spread to monks, meaning that they were slaves of Christ. From monks it spread to priests generally.)
There were different kinds of tonsure. The Roman style shaved the crown of the head, and left a ring of hair around the sides.
Clerics generally received their ashes on their tonsure, not on their forehead.
“Priests (including the Pope) receive their ashes on their head rather than their forehead.”
My understanding is that ashes on the head are a European custom (or at least Italian) while ashes on the forehead are a US custom. So, all clergy in the US receive ashes on the forehead and all, including laity, receive ashes on the head in Europe (or at least Italy).
My attention was immediately drawn to the stole.
Compare the one worn by the pope to this one worn by St. Maron. The Maronite Church traces its origin to St. Maron, a Syrian hermit of the 4th – 5th century AD, and St. John Maron, under whom the invading Byzantine forces were defeated in 684. His feast day is this Saturday, February 9, and a holy day of obligation.
As I watched a layman put the ashes on our priest’s forehead yesterday, I wondered what the feelings would be.
I would feel so humbled by the entire esperience. Thank goodness it wasn’t me. I lectored. We had no choir.
**he can’t be putting the ashes right on the Pope’s beautiful white hair!**
Biblical readings indicate this was the custom! Our question: Will it come back to doing that?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/1966408/posts?page=16#16
Check out this link
Don’t know the exact Biblical references, but sure that sprinkled and ashes would bring it up in a search of a concordance.
True. It would get everyone very dirty if this were done generally in parishes.
1 Mac
Chapters 3 and 4 are references
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