Given that we survived Fat Tuesday, today is the day you ask for forgiveness for the revelry of the last week. Known at least since the 8th century, the Catholic liturgy calls today
dies cinerum or "day of ashes." If you observe as has been done historically, an Ash Wednesday service includes a cross created by the priest on your forehead, right above your nose, made from ashes. The ashes are symbolic of the grief caused by sin and our desire to forsake that sin. Here's the real problem - some people aren't sorry enough for their sin to feel any real brokenness and therefore they don't want to repent. They LIKE their sin and don't want to leave it. It's become almost a joke to speak of repentance. Sin is something to be sought and embraced like a long-lost friend or a relative come home. Let's pray for our nation that we abandon that and seek the Lord with repentance and brokenness, seeking grace only the Lord can give.
Given that we survived Fat Tuesday, today is the day you ask for forgiveness for the revelry of the last week. Known at least since the 8th century, the Catholic liturgy calls today dies cinerum or "day of ashes." If you observe as has been done historically, an Ash Wednesday service includes a cross created by the priest on your forehead, right above your nose, made from ashes. The ashes are symbolic of the grief caused by sin and our desire to forsake that sin. Here's the real problem - some people aren't sorry enough for their sin to feel any real brokenness and therefore they don't want to repent. They LIKE their sin and don't want to leave it. It's become almost a joke to speak of repentance. Sin is something to be sought and embraced like a long-lost friend or a relative come home. Let's pray for our nation that we abandon that and seek the Lord with repentance and brokenness, seeking grace only the Lord can give.
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