Is it permissable for a a would be Catholic convert to accept ashes on Ash Weds.?

Question

I'm not certain whether I was ever baptised. Does it matter?

Answer 1

I really felt to answer; because God compels me to answer. But God also leads me to the truths within the Catholic Church. For this reason, I must tell you taylordesigns2003 has the most logical and truthful answer. If this goes to a vote, I will cast my vote for her answer. God be praised.

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

I am a methodist but attend catholic services...I don't think getting the ash is a sacrement so I believe it is open to anyone. Certainly any christian...just my thought...I'm sure a more schooled catholic can answer better...but I say go for it.

Answer 3

Another reason why Catholics have it wrong. They decide who deserves certain rites based on many things, some including how much they have put in the plate Sunday mornings. God decides who belongs in His family completely based on where you have placed your faith. If you want ashes on your head to remember Jesus then do it yourself. It would be no different.

Answer 4

Definitely 100% permissible anyone giving you a different answer is not Catholic.

Answer 5

You may partake in receipt of the ashes and nothing else until you have completed your RCIA.
Below is an explanation if you so chose to explain the beauty of this ritual.

Ecclesiasticus 7:40 "In all thy works remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin."

"What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh..." In other words, the things of this world are transient, and Christians must always keep one eye on the world to come.

Recalling this Truth is one of the principles behind the use of ashes on the forehead on Ash Wednesday, the first day of the Lenten Season of penance: to remind us that we are mortal, subject to the rot and decay our Western culture now desperately tries to euphemize away, and that we are radically dependent on -- solely dependent on -- Jesus Christ.

Ashes are used, too, to express the penitence necessary to come to Christ so that we can experience bodily resurrection at the End of the Age.

Job 42:6 Therefore I reprehend myself, and do penance in dust and ashes.

he ashes are made by the burning of palms from last year's Palm Sunday. The blessing of the ashes begins with an antiphon and a verse of a psalm begging God's grace and mercy. Then come four prayers which express what the ashes symbolize and how they are to be seen and used by us:

1. To be a spiritual help for all who confess their sins.

2. To secure pardon of sins for those who receive the ashes.

3. To give us the spirit of contrition.

4. To give us the grace and strength to do penance.

After the priest sprinkles the ashes with holy water and incenses them, he puts some on his own head, and then on the heads of those present, the head being the seat of pride. He puts them on our foreheads in the shape of a Cross to remind us of our hope, and as he does so, he says the words of Genesis 3:

Meménto, homo, quia pulvis es, et in púlverem revertéris (Remember, man, that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return).

We make no response to these words; we simply return to our pews.

Following the disposition of the ashes come two Antiphons and a Response. Then the priest says another prayer for protection in the coming combat.

After we leave the church, we leave the ashes on our foreheads until they wear off naturally from the course of the day's activities. They are a public witness to those things our society does not wish to embrace: the reality of death, and the hope of resurrection in Our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Answer 6

Catholism is full of laws and rituals. Just ask Christ into your heart to be your Lord and Savior and start reading the bible and praying. There are no rituals and laws when you are a real Christian.

Answer 7

Yes, ashes are a sacramental, not a sacrament. ANYONE can receive Ash Wednesday ashes!

Wlcome home!

Answer 8

Yes. The tradition of ashes actually started with people who were converting to Christianity.

+ Ashes in the Bible +

"O daughter of my people, gird on sackcloth, roll in the ashes." (Jeremiah 6:26)

"I turned to the Lord God, pleading in earnest prayer, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes." (Daniel 9:3)

"When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in the ashes." (Jonah 3:6)

"And all the Israelite men, women and children who lived in Jerusalem prostrated themselves in front of the temple building, with ashes strewn on their heads, displaying their sackcloth covering before the Lord." (Judith 4:11; see also 4:15 and 9:1)

"That day they fasted and wore sackcloth; they sprinkled ashes on their heads and tore their clothes." (1 Maccabees 3:47; see also 4:39)

Jesus refers to the use of sackcloth and ashes as signs of repentance: "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes." (Matthew 11:21, Luke 10:13)

+ Ashes Wednesday +

As the beginning of Lent, Ash Wednesday calls us to the conversion journey that marks the season.

As those preparing to join the Church enter the final stage of their preparation for the Easter sacraments, we are all called to walk with them so that we will be prepared to renew our baptismal promises when Easter arrives.

When we receive ashes on our foreheads, we remember:
+ Who we are
+ That we are creatures of the earth
. "Remember that you are dust"
+ That we are mortal beings
. "and to dust you will return"
+ That we are people on a journey of conversion
. "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel"
+ That we are members of the body of Christ
+ That smudge on our foreheads will proclaim that identity to others, too

With love in Christ.

Answer 9

Sure, but why? no.