DID YOU KNOW: Ash Wednesday

Why Ashes on Ash Wednesday?

 

 According to the New Catholic Encyclopedia, ashes are symbolic of mortality, mourning and penance.

The Christian use of ashes as a sign of penance seems to have been taken from Jewish tradition. Originally, ashes were signs of private penance, but then became part of the ritual for public penance.

As early as the 300’s, at the start of Lent, local churches had a ritual for the beginning of public penance.

Pope Urban II (1088-1099) recommended the custom that all churches receive ashes.

“Ashes were put on the heads of men and the sign of the cross traced with ashes on the foreheads of women, presumably because their heads were covered.”

“In the 11th century there appeared a special prayer for the blessing of ashes. And the 12th century gave rise to the rule that the ashes used on Ash Wednesday are to be made from the palm branches of the previous year.”

DID YOU KNOW? – Mary, Mother of God

 

January 1 is the Feast of Mary, Mother of God. This is the oldest title of Mary, dating back to the Council of Ephesus in AD 431. The title was designed to safeguard the full divinity of Christ against the Nestorians, who wanted to call Mary only the mother of the Christ. A more recent title for Mary is Mother of the Church. Between them, these two titles indicate the importance that Mary has for Catholics: she is the mother of our Savior and our spiritual mother, birthing us into the Body of Christ by her birth of the Head, Jesus. It is her relation to Jesus and the Church that makes Mary of significance in Catholic theology.

 

Four aspects of Mary’s life have been made official dogmas of the Church. Besides Mother of God, they are her Perpetual Virginity, her Immaculate Conception, and her Assumption into heaven. Many people often mistake the dogma of the Immaculate Conception as referencing the conception of Jesus, but it actually refers to the conception of Mary, preserved from the taint of original sin, in the womb of her mother Anne.

 

These dogmas are required belief for Catholics, but it does not mean that they are the only aspects of Mary’s life that are authoritatively taught. Titles of Mary such as Coredemptrix, Mediatrix and Advocate have a long history in the teaching of the Church’s ordinary Magesterium.

 

Catholics do not worship Mary; she is not God. The Church distinguishes between latria, the adoration and worship due to God alone, and dulia, the respect, veneration and love we offer to the saints. Mary, as the person most closely associated with Christ and given the highest honor and sanctity by God, is given the highest honor, or hyperdulia.

DID YOU KNOW: Healing?

Every Mass is a celebration in HEALING.  In faith, we receive the Great Physician into our bodies and souls knowing that we will be nourished and healed physically, emotionally and spiritually.  Our Catholic Tradition also invites us to experience God’s presence in a unique way in the Healing Mass.  The service begins with the celebration of the Eucharist.  Then, we are invited to be prayed over individually by the laying of hands and anointing with blessed oil.  There are also opportunities to experience the powerful presence of Christ’s healing love through the Eucharistic procession and the Divine Mercy prayer.  Some people might receive the gift of “rest in the Spirit.”  During his public life, healing was a main aspect of Jesus’ ministry, as it is today, through His Church.  Saint Michael Parish invites you to join in a healing Mass on Saturday, October 4, 2008 at 7:00 PM.  

 

Is any one among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him
sing praise. Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church,
and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;
and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and
if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.   (James 5: 13-15)

DID YOU KNOW: Saint Michael?

 

St. Michael is an archangel! While not closest to the throne of God (the seraphims and cherubims are!), our beloved St. Michael is considered one of the “big kahunas”!

St. Michael becomes the highest of angels because of his humility and it is that humility that destroyed and defeated Lucifer, who was the highest of the angels before its fall.  It is because of Michael’s virtue of humility that he is called “one who is like God”.

St. Michael is the patron saint of artists, police officers, soldiers, radiologists and the sick.

Other important archangels include St. Gabriel (“God is my strength”) and St. Raphael (“God is my health”).

We celebrate the Feast of Archangels including St. Michael, St. Gabriel and St. Raphael at weekend Masses on September 27^th / 28^th.