“Saint Joseph with the Infant Jesus…”

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We have two Feast Days coming up.  One is major and one is minor.  But the “minor” festival is the far better-known of the two.  (And celebrated more, usually with lots o’ beer…)

That is, March 19, 2015, is the Feast Day for St. Joseph.  That’s the Major Feast Day coming up, but it’s way overshadowed by St. Patrick’s Day, today, March 17.   I figure there’s some kind of object lesson in all of this, but I haven’t quite figured it out yet.

According to Apostles, Major Saints and Feast Days, St. Joseph is third on the list of important figures who have Feast days.  (He comes in third only to Christ the King and Mary.)  St. Patrick on the other hand didn’t even make that list.  But again, his Feast Day far overshadows that of “St. Joe.”  (Who might be called at least the lesser of the two father figures of Jesus:)

Christian tradition places Joseph as Jesus‘ foster father [but] represents Mary as a widow during the adult ministry of her son.  Joseph is not mentioned [at] the Wedding at Cana at the beginning of Jesus’ mission, nor at the Passion at the end.  If he had been present at the Crucifixion, he would under Jewish custom have been expected to take charge of Jesus’ body, but this role is instead performed by Joseph of Arimathea.  Nor would Jesus have entrusted his mother to the care of John the Apostle if her husband was alive.   (E.A.)

Saint Joseph – Wikipedia, which added that Joseph is venerated as a saint by many, including the Catholic, Anglican, and Methodist faiths.  In some traditions he is the patron saint of workers.  And, with “the growth of Mariology, the theological field of Josephology has also grown and since the 1950s centres for studying it have been formed.”

See also St. Joseph – Saints & Angels – Catholic Online, which added that he is also patron saint of the dying.”  That’s because, “assuming he died before Jesus’ public life, he died with Jesus and Mary close to him, the way we all would like to leave this earth.”  And finally, this:

The Bible pays Joseph the highest compliment: he was a “just” man…   By saying Joseph was “just,” the Bible means that he was one who was completely open to all that God wanted to do for him. He became holy by opening himself totally to God.

That’s from St. Joseph, Husband of Mary | Saint of the Day.  (And points the way for all of us.)

The full readings for the Feast Day can be found at St. Joseph.  They are:  2 Samuel 7:4,8-16, Psalm 89 (or portions thereof), Romans 4:13-18, and Luke 2:41-52.

Now about St. Patrick.  We don’t know when he was born, but he is said to have died on March 17, now celebrated as his Feast Day.  In Irish his name would be Padraig.  That’s often shortened to “Paddy,” and is seen as a derogatory term for Irish men.  See Saint Patrick – Wikipedia, and also The Free Dictionary.   That in turn  gave rise to the “Paddy wagon:”

The name came from the New York Draft riots of 1863.  The Irish at the time were the poorest people in the city.  When the draft was implemented it had a provision for wealthier people to buy a waiver.  The Irish rioted, and the term Paddy wagon was coined.

Urban Dictionary: paddy wagon, about the “police vehicle used to transport prisoners.”

But we digress!!!

According to legend, St. Patrick was born in Britain but at 16 was captured by Irish pirates.  He was taken as a slave back to Ireland, and lived there for six years before escaping.   He got back to his family, then studied became a cleric, and in the fullness of time returned to Ireland.

Legend further says Patrick used the native shamrock to illustrate the Holy Trinity to the Irish.  And finally, legend says Patrick “banished all snakes from Ireland,” though there’s debate whether snakes were there in the first place.  An alternate theory: the “snakes” referred to the “serpent symbolism of the Druids.” (Wikipedia.)

See also St. Patrick | Saint of the Day | AmericanCatholic.org:

He suffered much opposition from pagan druids and was criticized in both England and Ireland for the way he conducted his mission.  In a relatively short time, the island had experienced deeply the Christian spirit, and was prepared to send out missionaries whose efforts were greatly responsible for Christianizing Europe. (E.A.)

See also, How the Irish Saved Civilization.  That book argued that the Irish played a “critical role in preserving Western Civilization from utter destruction by the Huns and the Germanic tribes” after the Roman Empire collapsed.  (Those Germanic tribes included Angles and Saxons and Jutes.  Oh my!)   The book told the story of the “pivotal role” played by members of the Irish clergy in preserving Western civilization, with a “particular focus” on St. Patrick.

Or as Kenneth Clark put it, “In so far as we are the heirs of Greece and Rome” – after the collapse of the Roman Empire about 500 A.D. – “we got through by the skin of our teeth.”  We were saved in large part by a “group of monks huddled off the coast of Ireland.”

(There they were safe from the rampaging Vandals, Huns and other barbarians from the east.)

Now about that celebration.  See How America Invented St. Patrick’s Day | TIME, which began:   “Immigration and nativism transformed a quiet religious celebration into a day of raucous parades and shamrock shakes.”  That transformation began in America.

In Ireland – up until about 1904 – March 17 was a “quiet day with no parades or public events.”

The first recorded public American celebration came in Boston in 1737.  Around 1766, Irish soldiers in the British Army stationed in New York started holding a parade to honor “the Irish saint” that day.  Then came the end of the Civil War and more and more Irish immigrants:

Facing nativist detractors who characterized them as drunken, violent, criminalized, and diseased, Irish-Americans were looking for ways to display their civic pride and the strength of their identity…    Irish-Americans celebrated their Catholicism and patron saint … but they also stressed their patriotic belief in their new home.  In essence, St. Patrick’s Day was a public declaration of a hybrid identity [including] a strict adherence to the values and liberties that the U.S. offered them.

(See also Anti-Irish sentiment – Wikipedia.) By the 1890s, St. Patrick’s Day was celebrated not only in cities with large Irish populations; Boston, Chicago, and New York. It was also celebrated in cities like New Orleans, San Francisco, and Savannah. The tradition “grew across the U.S. and became a day that was also celebrated by people with no Irish heritage.  By the 20th century, it was so ubiquitous that St. Patrick’s Day became a marketing bonanza.”  (There’s probably a lesson there too…)

The TIME article ended with this:

The holiday also spread by becoming a means for all Americans to become Irish for the day. The shared sense of being Irish, of wearing green and in some way marking March 17, has resulted in St. Patrick’s Day being observed in a similar fashion to July Fourth or Halloween.  It’s the closest thing in America to National Immigrant Day, a tribute not only to the Irish, but to the idea that Americans are all part “other.” (E.A.)

See also St. Patrick’s Day – Facts, Pictures, Meaning & Videos, and St Patrick’s Day 2015: From London to Uganda – the 10 best Irish pubs outside Ireland.  (An FYI:  the list of best Irish pubs includes The Irish Haven in Brooklyn and Finn McCool’s Irish Pub in New Orleans.)

So Here’s to You, St. Joseph, patron saint of all workers and of the dying.

And Here’s to You, St. Patrick, who – among other things – helped to save Western Civilization from those barbarians, including the Angles and Saxons and Jutes.  (Oh my!)

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The upper image is courtesy of Saint Joseph – Wikipedia, which also noted that the “Pauline epistles make no reference to Jesus’ father; nor does the Gospel of Mark.”  The caption for the painting:  “Saint Joseph with the Infant Jesus, Guido Reni (c. 1635).”

The lower image is St. Joseph and the Christ Child, courtesy of El Greco – WikiArt.org.  See also, On art history: El Greco’s Sensibility: A Painting of Saint Joseph:

Saint Joseph and Christ Child [the one by El Greco] is one of the first Western paintings in which Saint Joseph is the principal protagonist.  We see his enormous figure in the first plan, shown as a walker, and as a figure of trust and protection to the Child Jesus, who embraces the waist of His Father.  [He is] presented as a young man with a crook in his right hand, shows his paternal love toward Jesus, and is crowned by the three [angels] in the [upper] part of the painting.  These angels in full movement bear lilies, which symbolize the purity, and laurel and roses, symbols of triumph and love respectively.  Here we see that the agitated postures of the angels contrast the calmness of the group of St. Joseph and the Infant Christ.  Behind them, a view of Toledo is included.

Re:  the “skin of our teeth,” and/or the Irish saving Western civilization.  See  Civilisation (TV series) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and CIVILIZATION by KENNETH CLARK – Culturism.

One final note, the phrase Here’s to You is generally translated, Bottoms Up, “an expression said as a toast when people are drinking together.”  

St. Michael, “reaching out to souls in purgatory…”

March 11, 2015  –  Back on August 10th I did a post on St. Michael and All Angels.   It was about an Episcopal church  –  “Saint Michael and All Angels”  –  that Mi Dulce and I passed on the way out of Stone Mountain.  (That’s a park east of Atlanta.)

Which led to a question, “Who the heck is this St. Michael guy?”

There’s more on St. Michael below.  But first let me say that last Sunday, March 8, “we” attended the 11:00 a.m. service at St. Michael Catholic Church on Tybee Island.  (An island on the coast of Georgia east of Savannah.  The Episcopal Church around the corner had a service at 10:00 a.m., but that was actually 9:00 thanks to the time change, so it was way too early…)

The sanctuary itself was nice and cozy, and the Bible readings were the same as those described in The “Big Ten” and Jesus with a whip.  That is, “Exodus 20:1-17, Psalm 19, 1 Corinthians 1:18-25, and John 2:13-22.  For the full readings see the Third Sunday in Lent.”  (The Catholic Church and Episcopal Church share the same Revised Common Lectionary.)

St. Michael’s has been on Tybee since July 5, 1891, as noted in the Morning News:

See St. Michael, under “About Us” and the parish history.  The history noted that the church on the beach cost the then-whopping sum of $2,000 to build.

Now, about Tybee Island.  It’s a small island and a small city east of Savannah, and the easternmost point in the state of Georgia.  Long known as a “quiet getaway for the residents of Savannah,” it has recently become equally popular for other tourists as well:

It is one of the few locations where the U.S. Air Force dropped an atomic bomb – by accident (during a botched 1958 military training exercise).  Though the “Tybee Bomb” did not detonate … there has been ongoing concern, since the Mark 15 nuclear bomb lost during the mishap was never found…  [On a lighter note,] Tybee Island has had an annual Beach Bum parade … down the main road in Tybee, Butler Avenue, and when parade floats come by onlookers have been known to shoot each other with water-guns.

See Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.   There’s also The Breakfast Club, a “legendary” way to start a bright Sunday morning, before going to mass at St. Michael’s.  (Just be sure to get there before the line starts forming outside the front door.)

But we digress…

For more about the original St. Michael, see the Book of Revelation at 12:7-10:

[T]here was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels.  And prevailed not…   [T]he great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world; he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.   And I heard a loud voice saying … the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

Note that both the Hebrew and Greek words “Satan” (“Satanas” in Greek) translate as “an adversary,” while the root word for devil is “diabolos,” which is Greek for “slanderer.”

Or see Michael (archangel) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, which included this:

Michael ([which translates] “who is like God?” … ) is an archangel in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic teachings.  Roman Catholics, the Eastern Orthodox, Anglicans, and Lutherans refer to him as “Saint Michael the Archangel” and also as “Saint Michael. . .”   In the New Testament Michael leads God’s armies against Satan‘s forces in the Book of Revelation, where during the war in heaven he defeats Satan.

Also, St. Michael has a Feast Day – called Michaelmas Day – on September 29.

I’ve included two images of St. Michael.  The one below shows him “trampling Satan.”  The upper image shows him in another of his jobs, “reaching out to souls in purgatory.”  That means he might end up being the archangel who saves my own spiritual butt.

On the other hand, there is that part of the Book of Common Prayer which calls the idea a “Romish doctrine.”  But for myself I say, “Hey, I’ll take all the help I can get!”

The upper image is courtesy of the Wikipedia article on St. Michael.  The full caption: “Archangel Michael reaching to save souls in purgatory, by Jacopo Vignali, 17th century.”

Dulce is Spanish for “Sweet,” or in the alternative Mi Dulce or “My Sweet.”   (See also the posts On “St. James the Greater”, and On the “Infinite Frog.”)

As to the definitions of Satan and/or the “Slanderer,” see the New International Dictionary of the Bible, Regency Reference Library, 1987, Page 899.

Re:  “shared lectionary.”  Wikipedia noted, “This lectionary was derived from various Protestant lectionaries in current use, which in turn were based on the 1969 Ordo Lectionum Missae, a three-year lectionary produced by the Roman Catholic Church following the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.”

The lower image is also courtesy of the Wikipedia article, with the full caption: “Guido Reni‘s painting in Santa Maria della Concezione, Rome, 1636 is also reproduced in mosaic at the St. Michael Altar in St. Peter’s Basilica, in the Vatican.”

For more information, see the notes for On “St. Michael and All Angels.”

“The Wind River … Indian Reservation, Wyoming,” where Father Roberts preached…

Tuesday, February 24, 2015, is the Feast of St. Matthias, the Apostle who came “after” Judas:

[A]ccording to the Acts of the Apostles, [he] was the apostle chosen by the remaining eleven apostles to replace Judas Iscariot following Judas’ betrayal of Jesus and suicide.  His calling as an apostle is unique in that his appointment was not made personally by Jesus, who had already ascended to heaven, and, it was made before the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the early Church.

See Saint Matthias – Wikipedia.  Note also that this St. Matthias is not to be confused with St. Matthew, the Gospel-writer whose Feast Day is September 21.

Or for that matter Mattathias, who rebelled against the occupying power before Rome, just before Jesus.  In turn he fathered Judas Maccabeus, the greatest guerrilla in Jewish history.

But we digress…

We were talking about St. Matthias, also known as “Unremarkable Matthias” or the “Overlooked Apostle.”  See Feast | First Things and The Overlooked Holy Apostle, Matthias.

Isaac Asimov gave a pithy description of how this Matthias became an Apostle:

Peter arranged to have a new individual selected to take the place of Judas Iscariot in order to bring the number of the inner circle back to the mystical twelve that matched the twelve tribes of Israel.  Two were nominated, Joseph Barsabbas and Matthias.  To choose between the two, lots were used: Acts 1:26….  and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.   Neither Joseph Barsabbas nor Matthias are mentioned anywhere else in the New Testament.

(Asimov, 998)   The problem is there are few if any images available – pictures or paintings – of St. Matthias.  So to get a lead-in and lower image for this post, I had to check the church calendar.  I found a “trial” Feast – February 25 – for Reverend John Roberts (1853-1949).

There’s more about “Father Roberts” below, but first some points about St. Mattathias.

As noted in St. Matthias – Wikipedia, some scholars think he’s really someone else:

Eusebius calls him … not Matthias but “Tolmai,” not to be confused with Bartholomew (which means Son of Tolmai) who was originally one of the twelve Apostles;  Clement of Alexandria says some identified him with Zacchaeus;  the Clementine Recognitions identify him with Barnabas;  Hilgenfeld thinks he is the same as Nathanael in the Gospel of John.

Another site said Peter and the other apostles studied Old Testament Scripture and “found a prophecy of Judas’ betrayal in Psalms 69 and 109.”  (As I wrote back in October 2014, “It pays to know the psalms!”  See also Jesus and the Psalms – Ligonier Ministries.)    Further, “the prophecy in Psalm 109 included the instruction, ‘let another take his office.’”  See Feast | First Things, which added, “We too, should search the Scriptures [especially the Psalms] to find God’s will…”

The Overlooked Holy Apostle agreed that “Matthias was originally Zacchaeus.  Zacchaeus climbed the sycamore tree because he could not see Jesus due to the crowd of people and his short stature (Luke 19:1-10).  He repented of his former life after meeting the Lord.”  This site included a gruesome account of St. Matthias preaching in a city of “man-eaters” – cannibals – and of the trials and tribulations he suffered there.  (See also Zacchaeus – Wikipedia.)

So whether St. Matthias died by being first stoned and then beheaded, or had his eyes gouged out and then “sat for thirty days waiting to be eaten and die,” the point is this:  spreading the Gospel isn’t always a whole lot of fun.  Which brings up a more recent “Gospel spreader” who had a bit more luck, the Reverend John Roberts, “Father Roberts.”

As Wikipedia noted, “John Roberts [1853-1949] is honored with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church on 25 February.”  See John Roberts (missionary), which noted he was born in “north Wales” but grew up yearning to be a missionary.  His first mission was to the Bahamas, but among people who “were already Christian.”  He wanted “greater challenges, particularly among American Indians,” and was eventually sent to the Diocese of Colorado and Wyoming.  He asked “for missionary work in the diocese’s most difficult field.”

The site John Roberts, Missionary to the Eastern Shoshone, added some interesting footnotes.

For one thing, there was his memorable eight-day trip out to the Wind River Reservation:  “He took the train to Green River and then traveled the last 150 miles by stage.  This journey came in the midst of a blizzard with temperatures nearing 60 degrees below zero.” (E.A.)

Another note addressed Father Roberts’ befriending Chief Washakie of the Shoshone:

The chief’s son, Jim Washakie, was shot and killed in 1885 by a white man in an argument over a liquor purchase.  When Chief Washakie heard of this, he became distraught and vowed to kill every white man he saw until he himself was dead.  When Roberts heard of this, he …  offered his own life instead.  Washakie reconsidered and said, “I do not want your life.  But I want to know what it is that gives you more courage than I have.”  Roberts used the occasion to talk about his personal faith and converted Washakie to Christianity. (E.A.)

Which brings up the work of missionaries in general.  One definition said a missionary is a “member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development.”  Certainly the last five “ministries of service” have the potential for much good.  On the other hand there are concerns “that missionaries have a perceived lack of respect for other cultures.”  And there is the “potential destruction of social structure among the converts.”  See Wikipedia.

Other web articles are more blunt, saying missionaries in the past have attacked native spiritual ceremonies as “pagan,” adding that among “uncivilised people,” missionaries are “agents of destruction.”  And some say missionaries have destroyed the “bonds of the people to the forests, land and animals,” and spread ideologies and technologies that make native people “slaves to the extractive system which defines colonialism.”  See e.g. Against Missionaries, A Case Against Missionaries, and/or Do Missions Destroy Culture? | RELEVANT Magazine.

On the other hand, see John Roberts, Priest, 1949 | Commission on Liturgy and Music:

Unlike other missionaries who sought to change the culture and lifestyle of Native peoples … Roberts believed it was important to preserve the language, customs, and culture of the people.  Roberts sought to honor and respect the ancient ways of the Native peoples while at the same time proclaiming the Gospel among them, inviting them to faith, establishing congregations, and serving their needs in the name of Jesus. (E.A.)

In this case – it seems – Father Roberts is one missionary who got it right.  He got to know the people he’d be ministering to, and he “learned their language.”   Here’s to his Feast Day.

“…never take me away from my Indians”

The upper image is courtesy of the link, Wind River Indian Reservation, contained within John Roberts (missionary) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The lower image is courtesy of The Reverend John Roberts, Missionary to the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes.  The caption: “‘I hope you will never take me away from my Indians,’ the Reverend John Roberts told his bishop.”

Re:  “Mattathias.”  This Mattathias – who died in 165 BC – was “a Jewish priest whose role in the Jewish revolt against the Syrian Greeks is related in the Books of the Maccabees.”  See Mattathias, which said he was perhaps best known for fathering Judas Maccabeus, who in turn is best known for being a leader of the Maccabean Revolt.  In that revolt – from 167 to 160 BC – Judas (or Judah) Maccabee “led an army of Jewish dissidents to victory over the Seleucid dynasty in guerrilla warfare.”  See Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, which noted that the “Jewish festival of Hanukkah celebrates the re-dedication of the Temple following Judah Maccabee’s victory…”

Re: Isaac Asimov.  The quote is from Asimov’s Guide to the Bible (Two Volumes in One),  Avenel Books (1981), at page 998.  Asimov (1920-1992) was “an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books.  Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards.”  His list of books included those on “astronomy, mathematics, the Bible, William Shakespeare’s writing, and chemistry.”  He was a long-time member of Mensa, “albeit reluctantly;  he described some members of that organization as ‘brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs.’”  See Isaac Asimov – Wikipedia.

Re:  Father Roberts’ “personal faith.”  In other words he was “singing his song,” not a warmed-over rehash.  (He was not a “carbon copy Christian.”)  See e.g. “Another brick in the wall.”

For more on Father Roberts, see also John Roberts – Satucket.com:

Assigned to minister to the Shoshone and Arapahos on the Wind River Reservation, he set about his work by learning all he could about Native American customs and beliefs, believing that by knowing the people he hoped to minister to he would be more effective.  He also learned the native languages, eventually translating the gospel for his Native American congregates…  His translation of the Gospel of Luke into Arapahoe is online at Project Gutenberg.  Translations of the Lord’s Prayer, Apostles’ Creed, Ten Commandments, etc., into Arapaho and Shoshone are also online.

For another blog-post on Father Roberts, see The Good Heart: The Rev. John Roberts (1853 – 1949).

Could these upraised arms have a double meaning, including one not so “indelicate?”

Tuesday, February 17, 2015 –  Even as we speak … I am doing advance penance for the upcoming season of penance.  I am folding what seems to be an endless stream of church bulletins, one set for the noon service tomorrow and one set for the service at 6:00 p.m.

Which brings up the whole topic of Ash Wednesday and the Season of Lent:

According to the canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus Christ spent 40 days fasting in the desert, where he endured temptation by Satan.  Lent originated as a mirroring of this, fasting 40 days as preparation for Easter.

See Wikipedia.  See also Lent 101 – The Upper Room.  So the “40 days of Lent” are supposed to commemorate the 40 days that Jesus spent “wandering in the wilderness.”  That act by Jesus mirrored the 40 years that the Hebrews – led by Moses – spent also “wandering around.”

In turn, Lent – a season devoted to “prayer, penance, repentance of sins, almsgiving, atonement and self-denial  – is preceded by “Fat Tuesday,” the day before Ash Wednesday.  This year Ash Wednesday is February 18.  That’s preceded by Fat Tuesday, February 17 this year.

The French term for Fat Tuesday is Mardi Gras, now a generic term for “Let’s Party!!”  As Wikipedia put it, “Popular practices on Mardi Gras include wearing masks and costumes, overturning social conventions, dancing, sports competitions, parades, debauchery, etc.”

See also A Brief History of Mardi Gras – Photo Essays – TIME, which noted, “Mardi Gras isn’t all nudity and drunken debauchery (though, yes, there is definitely nudity and drunken debauchery).”  (Emphasis in original.)   But the origin of Fat Tuesday was more spiritual:

In earlier times, people used Lent as a time of fasting and repentance.  Since they didn’t want to be tempted by sweets, meat and other distractions in the house, they cleaned out their cabinets.  They used up all the sugar and yeast in sweet breads before the Lent season started, and fixed meals with all the meat available.  It was a great feast!  Through the years Mardi Gras has evolved (in some places) into a pretty wild party with little to do with preparing for the Lenten season of repentance and simplicity.

Lent 101, emphasis added.  Incidentally, there are actually 46 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday.  That’s because Sundays don’t count in the calculation.  Sundays in Lent are essentially “days off,” when you can still enjoy whatever it is that you’ve given up for Lent.  (A fact overlooked by the writer/producers of 40 Days and 40 Nights, a “2002 romantic comedy film” which showed the main character “during a period of abstinence from any sexual contact for the duration of Lent.”  As noted, the main character could have “taken Sundays off.”)

Getting back to the subject at hand…   You can see the full set of Bible readings for tomorrow at Ash Wednesday.  The highlight is the Gospel, Matthew 6:1-6,16-21, where Jesus warned of “practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them.”

On the subject of fasting (and abstinence) –  primary components of the Lenten discipline – Jesus said, “Do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting.”  Instead (basically) put on a happy face, “so that your fasting may be seen not by others, but by your Father who is in secret.” (Emphasis added.)

As for almsgiving, Jesus said, “Do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do … so that they may be praised by others.”  Instead, “When you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret.”  (Which is where the expression the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing comes from…)

And finally Jesus said this about praying in public (and by extension, school prayer):

Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others.  Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.  But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret;  and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Are we getting the picture here?  The one thing Jesus kept mentioning over and over was hypocrisy, which includes “the false assumption of an appearance of virtue or religion.”

I wrote about this whole controversy in On praying in public.  I concluded with a variation of the classic Henny Youngman one-liner,  “Take school prayer…  Please!“

 But we digress…

If you’re interested in more history on Ash Wednesday see The History and Meaning of Ash Wednesday.  That site noted the “pouring of ashes on one’s body” as an “outer manifestation of inner repentance” is an ancient practice.  The earliest mention seems to have come at the end of the Book of Job, “older than any other book of the Bible.”  In Job 42:6, after he is rebuked by God, Job says, “I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”  (Not to mention “dressing in sackcloth, a very rough material.”  See also On Job, the not-so-patient.)

And finally see The ‘Splainer: Ash Wednesday and dirty Christian foreheads, about “washing:”

No one is required to keep the ashes on his or her face after the ritual.  But some Christians choose to, perhaps as a reminder to themselves that they are mortal and fallible, while others may choose to leave them on as a witness to their faith in the hope others will ask about them and open a door to sharing their faith.

Here’s wishing you a happy and spiritually-fulfilling Lent!

Jesus, tempted in the wilderness during His own “40 days…”

The upper image is courtesy of A Brief History of Mardi Gras … TIME, with the caption:

OK, Mardi Gras’ reputation as an alcohol-fueled, nudity-filled bacchanal is not completely unearned.  In 1973, a ban was established on Krewe parades in the increasingly rowdy and narrow streets of the French Quarter.  In subsequent years, tourists and other drunken fools descended on the Quarter (especially the particularly saucy Bourbon Street) en masse, and the tradition of showing skin for beads began.  Native New Orleanians despise the reputation, and rarely venture into the Quarter during Carnival season.

Emphasis added, which means “there’s probably some kind of object lesson there…”

The lower image is courtesy of Temptation of Christ – Wikipedia, with the caption, “James Tissot – Jesus Tempted in the Wilderness (Jésus tenté dans le désert) – Brooklyn Museum.”

As to Job being older than any other book in the Bible, see Dating the Book of Job (PDF), which concluded that the book chronicled “events that took place between 1280 and 1270 BC – about 100 years before the Exodus.  As explained in the below excerpt, it is also evident from the text of the book of Job itself that it is older than any other book of the Bible.”