On the way to drop-off Abraham to his school yesterday morning, we heard the DJ of our favorite radio station greeting his callers with “Happy Ash Wednesday!” I may not be a devout Catholic but I reacted with, “Hello, it’s not a happy occasion you know?”
My comment lead to a short and meaty conversation between me and Abraham with his little brother seated at the backseat quietly absorbing our discussion. He started asking about Ash Wednesday and what it meant to us. With simplest knowledge I explained, this is a practice to remind people to repent, and that we came from ashes and unto ashes we will return. Further I said, Ash Wednesday is not a day of obligation; however it starts the holiest season in a Catholic’s life. Thus Abraham commented, he has friends who doesn’t believe in the creation and only believed in science. Friends who do not have any religion at all. Having heard that and for fear that he might be influenced later, my motherly guts tried to find an excuse not obvious enough, to discourage Abraham in associating with these group of friends. But Abraham whom I guess is smarter than I am, already knows what runs in my mind, said, “That’s why I know they are real friends Mommy. Even though they do not belong to any religion, they respect my religion.” I held-off my tongue and in my mind I thought, the younglings know about respect and acceptance of other beliefs, then who am I to discriminate.
I remembered, I, myself, have a close friend who doesn’t have a religion too. When she was born, she said, her mother registered her name through the hospital and straight home they went. No baptism followed, no confirmation or anything when she reached teenhood. She never attended any church but grew up to be a fine and respectable person, perhaps better than many who have religion but don't practice the deeds of their belief. I recalled when we watched the movie The Passion of the Christ; she paid serious attention to the film. It was nice of her to be open-minded.
In the afternoon, we rushed to take our dinner and went to church to have our forehead marked with ashes and to pray for my mother-in-law who passed away this day last year. We had this mass offered for her and the timing coincided with the marking of ashes. Before we stood in line, Abraham asked, “Mommy what will I say after the priest put the ash?” I said, “Amen.” And he asked again, "What do the priest say when they put ashes?" I told him to listen to what the priest is saying.
In the car, on our way back home, he repeated what the priest said when he had his forehead signed with a cross…”Turn away from sin and believe in the gospel.” I remembered the DJ on the radio…I wish he will be blessed with knowledge and hope that by next year he won’t greet his callers Happy Ash Wednesday again.
My comment lead to a short and meaty conversation between me and Abraham with his little brother seated at the backseat quietly absorbing our discussion. He started asking about Ash Wednesday and what it meant to us. With simplest knowledge I explained, this is a practice to remind people to repent, and that we came from ashes and unto ashes we will return. Further I said, Ash Wednesday is not a day of obligation; however it starts the holiest season in a Catholic’s life. Thus Abraham commented, he has friends who doesn’t believe in the creation and only believed in science. Friends who do not have any religion at all. Having heard that and for fear that he might be influenced later, my motherly guts tried to find an excuse not obvious enough, to discourage Abraham in associating with these group of friends. But Abraham whom I guess is smarter than I am, already knows what runs in my mind, said, “That’s why I know they are real friends Mommy. Even though they do not belong to any religion, they respect my religion.” I held-off my tongue and in my mind I thought, the younglings know about respect and acceptance of other beliefs, then who am I to discriminate.
I remembered, I, myself, have a close friend who doesn’t have a religion too. When she was born, she said, her mother registered her name through the hospital and straight home they went. No baptism followed, no confirmation or anything when she reached teenhood. She never attended any church but grew up to be a fine and respectable person, perhaps better than many who have religion but don't practice the deeds of their belief. I recalled when we watched the movie The Passion of the Christ; she paid serious attention to the film. It was nice of her to be open-minded.
In the afternoon, we rushed to take our dinner and went to church to have our forehead marked with ashes and to pray for my mother-in-law who passed away this day last year. We had this mass offered for her and the timing coincided with the marking of ashes. Before we stood in line, Abraham asked, “Mommy what will I say after the priest put the ash?” I said, “Amen.” And he asked again, "What do the priest say when they put ashes?" I told him to listen to what the priest is saying.
In the car, on our way back home, he repeated what the priest said when he had his forehead signed with a cross…”Turn away from sin and believe in the gospel.” I remembered the DJ on the radio…I wish he will be blessed with knowledge and hope that by next year he won’t greet his callers Happy Ash Wednesday again.
1 comment:
i guess for some people, there is no difference (or they don't know?) between "celebration" and "observance"..
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