Here it is Thursday already! This evening my husband will be leaving for Cursillo (I am going in a couple of weeks). I would ask for your prayers for him. I would also ask prayers for me - I am waiting to hear about a possibility that has great potential, and I have been told to expect to hear sometime next week. I was so frazzled that I totally forgot an appointment I had monday afternoon - which is not like me! I thought it was thursday morning. yikes.
Of course, I got mixed up because I totally re-arranged my work schedule this week in order to be off Wednesday night for Ash Wednesday Mass in my parish. So I drove to work Tuesday morning early to be there for a meeting at 0730, and didn't leave to come home until 1730 on Wednesday. Helped two babies into the world in that time period, too, as well as seeing between 20 - 30 women in the office for regular appointments.
I have a question for those of you (I assume the majority) who attended Ash Wednesday services. At what point was the distribution of ashes? I thought that the rubrics specified that they are to be distributed at the end of the Liturgy of the Word, after the homily, and that they are to be blessed immediately before distribution. What happened last night was that the ashes were blessed just after the opening prayer, and the distribution of ashes was after communion - actually after the prayer of dismissal. How common is this? Is this OK? I mean, it did have the effect that NO ONE did the 'Judas shuffle' of leaving after communion. But it also seemed to me to have the effect of divorcing this beautiful rite from its rightful place. As an Anglican, I recall that we had a prayer service that incorporated the liturgy of the word, and then the ashes were distributed (only by the priest or deacons - not by lay people), and then more hymns and a solemn dismissal. How do the Eastern Rites and the Orthodox do ashes?
I am also percolating some thoughts about feelings on the end of a pregnancy - whether ended by birth, miscarriage, abortion, or whatever. Anyone who desires to share thoughts and feelings on this privately feel free to email me. The link should be over by the blogroll. No names will be included without permission. I am thinking about this because recently I saw several young women who had undergone abortions right around Christmas, and I was mulling over the feelings they shared with me. And then in contrast I thought about the other women who gave birth or miscarried around that time.
