Huckleberries Online

Ashes To Ashes, Dust To Dust

Posted by DFO

Feb. 25, 2009 8:36 a.m. • 31 comments

A Roman Catholic nun applies soot on the forehead of a girl in observance of Ash Wednesday at the Redemptorist Church at suburban Paranaque south of Manila, Philippines, this morning. Ash Wednesday, which ushers the 40-day Lenten Season, is observed by Catholics all over the world to remind mankind of being mortals. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

Question: What does Lent mean to you?

31 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

BrandonHansen on February 25 at 7:57 a.m.
Ah man, forgot to give up something for lent.

How about Seahawks games :D

Brandon Hansen
Just South of North
www.justsouthofnorth.com
Sparky on February 25 at 8:30 a.m.
A time in which my parents delve into catholic guilt balanced with statements why they are no longer practicing Catholics. My sisters and I have learned to not make eye contact, agree or disagree, and pray. So its a time of prayer for me…
toadman on February 25 at 8:41 a.m.
Lint is the stuff I get out of my pockets after they’ve been through the wash.

You have to understand, I grew up in the Evangelical Bible Belt South, and and almost ENTIRELY ignorant about Catholicism, and was, in fact, taught by my Assemblies of God brethren that Catholicism wasn’t actually Christianity, but a cult that worshiped Mary and other idols.
Cindy_H on February 25 at 9:02 a.m.
I Lent my son some money and he still hasn’t paid me back.
Arch_Druid on February 25 at 9:12 a.m.
Speaking of, LOL! mom “lent” for new toys by way of Dish Network. And I AM paying her back. Otherwise, nothing. It means nothing.
idawa on February 25 at 10:09 a.m.
nothing.
Liz on February 25 at 12:00 p.m.
wow. I think I have some blog fodder now. Lent. And what it means to me.
it’s been years since I have set foot in a liturgical church that formally “does” lent…
but to me it was always about voluntarily doing without something that I really wanted (my personal fave was to fast from my daily rations of diet coke..yeah..its tough…). It drives home the point that its not all about satisfying my every want and whim. And that sometimes life involves struggle.
Most especially that Christ is the light at the end of the tunnel and that the deprivation is not forever…
JBelle on February 25 at 2:14 p.m.
Those heathens at Wendy’s are in for some leaden moments come Judgement Day! Tried to order a Fish Caesar Salad today. no go. Didn’t know how to ring it up. That from the manager no less! How can Wendy’s underwrite the Gonzaga Basketball 3 thing making them a major sponsor of the University, be in business one block from the campus and not honor Ash Wednesday?! I can only assume that the entire outfit is owned and operated by Joan Harmon or protestants. one.
toadman on February 25 at 2:19 p.m.
HA! JBelle.. don’t you know about fast food by now? If there’s not a button for it, you can’t order it..

;-)
toadman on February 25 at 2:21 p.m.
Every Ash Wednesday, I remember the first time I EVERY saw someone with ash on their forehead. Believe it or not, I was in my mid-twenties, before I’d encountered a Catholic of that sort of devotion. In fact, I was her boss at the time, and actually tried to clean her forehead.
JBelle on February 25 at 2:40 p.m.
TOAD!!!!!

I forgot about you people. YOU and your family probably own and operate Wendy’s and are snickering all the way to the bank. Toad, you owe me a Fish Fillet Caesar Salad and a jumbo ice tea, triple lemon on*the*house!
Cabbage Boy on February 25 at 2:43 p.m.
Fish ceasar salad? Hmm, me thinks I would rather just have a bagel (fraught with its own pseudo religious issues as it is).

This is the first year I ever saw that Wendy’s offered fish. Kinda late to the Catholic Lenten courting game. But seeing the commercials with old Dave and his tie and short sleeve white shirt, I am positive he was Mormon. :)
Cabbage Boy on February 25 at 2:43 p.m.
Are toads considered fish?
toadman on February 25 at 2:54 p.m.
You know.. I get on to my wife for trying to “special order” things at fast food joints too. She’s forever wanting “extra veggies” on her hamburger. When she says “extra veggies” to the teenager running the register, they go completely, utterly, blank. Apparently, they cover “extra cheese” and “extra meat” during the training, but never train them for the eventuality that someone could *gasp* want MORE VEGETABLES on their sandwich.

Also, toads aren’t fish.. just half-fish. So if you eat a toad on Friday, you only half as pious as the person who eats fish, I suppose.

;-)
Escapee on February 25 at 8:50 p.m.
,,,to me, it’s a synonym for ‘borrowed’.
JohnA on February 25 at 10:06 p.m.
Lent, from Ash Wednesday the forty days before Easter Sunday, is of course our time of sacrifice to emulate the forty days that Jesus fasted in his desert journey.

Whether you are Catholic or not, the sacrifice of Lent is purely a Christian right of passage. The whole basis of Christian faith is that Jesus was not only a gifted prophet, but indeed the Son of God. It is for this reason that Lent leads up to the greatest affirmation of our Christian faith, that Jesus died for our sins and was resurrected to sit at the right hand of the Father. When we celebrate the end of Lent, Easter Sunday, we affirm this faith, as Christians.

That is as it should be.

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.