Ash Wednesday and the Woodwork Catholics
Ash Wednesday is the third most attended Mass of the year behind Christmas and Easter. I don’t find that surprising whatsoever. Ash Wednesday is not a holy day of obligation, yet it is the third most attended Mass behind the other two giant liturgical celebrations. Why is that?
Let’s not beat around the bush or be coy about it. The reason why it is so highly attended is because you ‘get something’ for going to Mass. Of course we are talking about the ashes placed on your forehead in the shape of a cross (or, what is intended to be). It is a visible sign to the world that we proclaim Christ as the savior and that we are dust, and to dust we shall return.
I find that in the past I have been the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son. The annoyed, judgmental brother who doesn’t rejoice at the return of sinners to the Mass, but instead, sneers at the woodwork Catholics. What is a woodwork Catholic? A Catholic who comes out of the woodwork for Christmas, Easter, and Ash Wednesday. The Catholic who comes to Mass at least those 3 times a year.
The woodwork Catholic doesn’t understand that when you come to Mass, heaven and earth come together for the feast of the heavenly Lamb. They don’t understand that the Eucharist is fully Jesus Christ, His body, blood, soul, and divinity. They don’t understand the endless praise sung on high with all the angels and saints behind the altar. But, they get a snazzy cross of ash on their forehead before they leave the Mass, and at times, tragically, before they even receive the Eucharist.
These last few years, however, I have prayed for those souls, as we always should. They know not what they do, nor what they’re missing. I pray for my own soul to avoid the temptation to fall into the trap of becoming the older brother of the prodigal son parable, which for me, sadly, is all too easy.
I ought to rejoice at my fellow sinners joining me in the Church to celebrate the beginning of Mass. I ought to thank the Lord for bringing them to His house. I ought to be delighted that the Father’s children are at least for a time, home with Him.
You see, it is the gathering of the children of Israel under one roof. Of course, we know that our brothers and sisters do not understand the magnitude of what is going on in the Holy Mass. But let us ponder why that may be. I’m willing to bet for the vast majority, their catechesis was practically nonexistent; they simply don’t know what they believe or the why behind it. For others, they have been shunned or sneered at us “faithful Catholics” (and other Christians), and so, they only come to Mass a couple of times a year.
Before we get all pissy at those who come for the ashes and leave, let us praise God for simply bringing His children to the Church for even that one Mass. Let us rejoice that those who come to Mass on Ash Wednesday to receive the cross of ash simply to be seen as a Christian in the public, even bother coming to Mass at all. We ought to lift them up! They were simply present and even that short exposure to the Blessed Sacrament can make an impact that we may not see.
Let us pray that the Holy Spirit fills us so that we might touch our infrequent visiting brethren with love and compassion, and that perhaps this Lent, the fire of Christ could be set ablaze in their hearts and change their lives.
