Holy Humpday, Batman!

All things philosophical, related to belief and / or religions of any and all sorts.
Personal philosophy welcomed.
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RayThom
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Holy Humpday, Batman!

Post by RayThom »

Don't make an ash out of yourself.

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“In a world whose absurdity appears to be so impenetrable, we simply must reach a greater degree of understanding among us, a greater sincerity.” 

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Bicycle Bill
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Re: Holy Humpday, Batman!

Post by Bicycle Bill »

"Memento, homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris."
All us practicing Catholics of a certain age remember that, although it's been a long time since I've heard it in the original Latin.

Incidentally, in my old parish the ashes were obtained by gathering up, drying, and then burning all the palm fronds that had decorated the church on Palm Sunday (the Sunday before Easter) the year before — not from emptying Monsignor's ashtrays, as some of the less-reverent altar boys insisted.
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Burning Petard
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Re: Holy Humpday, Batman!

Post by Burning Petard »

BB, not just in your old parish. This is the tradition I'm most groups where Palm Sunday is celebrated with lots of actual palm fronds (and the kids are taught how to weave them into a cross). The end of Lent is remembered and celebrated with an anticipation of Ash Wednesday next year.

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Lord Jim
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Re: Holy Humpday, Batman!

Post by Lord Jim »

Last year I gave up eating kale for Lent, this year I'm giving up rooting for the Los Angeles Dodgers...

I find that with my approach, I have an excellent record for keeping my Lenten Vows...
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Big RR
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Re: Holy Humpday, Batman!

Post by Big RR »

I have heard about the burning of leftover palms to make ashes for Ash Wednesday, but have never seen it. Is the burning a ceremonial one (like the Easter vigil bonfires at many RC churches) or just done in private?

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RayThom
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Holy Humpday, Batman!

Post by RayThom »

Big RR wrote:I have heard about the burning of leftover palms to make ashes for Ash Wednesday, but have never seen it. Is the burning a ceremonial one (like the Easter vigil bonfires at many RC churches) or just done in private?
It's a solemn ritual performed by naked altar boys in all pastors manses on Shrove eve. In these now highly technical times, all Archdiocesan bishops are obligated to confirm all ash rites in their parishes by Skype, and pass on all video results to the Vatican.

I could be wrong, however.
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“In a world whose absurdity appears to be so impenetrable, we simply must reach a greater degree of understanding among us, a greater sincerity.” 

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Re: Holy Humpday, Batman!

Post by Big RR »

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

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Crackpot
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Re: Holy Humpday, Batman!

Post by Crackpot »

Palm Sunday is the las Sunday prior to Easter (the end of lent). Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of lent. Do they use the ashes from last year?
Okay... There's all kinds of things wrong with what you just said.

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Re: Holy Humpday, Batman!

Post by Big RR »

No, next year's ashes; bringing them back through time is the miracle you can choose to believe or not.

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Bicycle Bill
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Re: Holy Humpday, Batman!

Post by Bicycle Bill »

Crackpot wrote:Palm Sunday is the las Sunday prior to Easter (the end of lent). Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of lent. Do they use the ashes from last year?
Simple answer ... yes.  Used to be that in our parish we would receive palms on Palm Sunday and would be encouraged to take them home as 'sacramentals' and display them, usually behind a crucifix or other religious picture (and no self-respecting Catholic family back in the day didn't have at least one crucifix in every bedroom and a couple of others scattered around the house, along with a print of the 'Last Supper' in the dining room and the classic "Head of Jesus"
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by Warner Sallman in the living room).  Then, just before the start of Lent, we were asked to gather them up and bring them to church on the Sunday before Ash Wednesday so they could be burnt to prepare the ashes needed later in the week.

Now, at least in our parish, when they take down the palm fronds used to decorate the altar and sacristy on Palm Sunday, they set them aside to let them dry for three or four months and then burn them, with appropriate pomp and ceremony, sometime in the late summer.  The resulting ashes are then stored in a couple of plastic containers (think 'Tupperware') until needed the following Ash Wednesday.
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RayThom
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Holy Humpday, Batman!

Post by RayThom »

Will the real Jesus please ascend.

........................WESTERN..........................................MIDDLE EASTERN (Real)....................
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“In a world whose absurdity appears to be so impenetrable, we simply must reach a greater degree of understanding among us, a greater sincerity.” 

Big RR
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Re: Holy Humpday, Batman!

Post by Big RR »

BB--what sort of pomp and ceremony is paired with the burning? Is it at a mass or some other sort of prayer service?

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Econoline
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Re: Holy Humpday, Batman!

Post by Econoline »

Didn't Ray already answer that question? :mrgreen: :nana
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Big RR
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Re: Holy Humpday, Batman!

Post by Big RR »

Yes, which is why I am seeking confirmation (or rejection) from Bill. Ray has a very plausible theory, even the bible mentions palms and asses (or at least an ass).

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Re: Holy Humpday, Batman!

Post by Bicycle Bill »

I want to make it clear that in our parish, most of the palm fronds had already been incinerated sometime prior to Ash Wednesday itself in a bunch of old coffee cans out behind the church.  However, a symbolic quantity was held back for the ceremony during the morning mass on Ash Wednesday as part of the homily (sermon).

Monsignor would deliver a lesson about what Ash Wednesday and the Lenten season meant, and tied it in to the custom of putting on sackcloth and ashes when in mourning, because we all knew what was coming — the Passion of God's own Son, put to death by the very people he came to redeem from their sinfulness, an act of ignorance for which we should mourn ... and so on and so on.  During this the palms were placed in one of the coffee cans, and after a couple of prayers (we Catholics used to have a prayer for just about anything and everything — and probably still do, if anyone cares to dig deep enough into the old missals and breviaries), one of the altar boys would light a candle from the always-burning sacristy lamp and used it to set fire to the few remaining fronds.

While the senior altar boy tended the coffee can, Monsignor finished his sermon, which pretty much always ended the same.  The words of the admonition delivered when the ashes were being applied (which was still in Latin back then) were translated and how this was a reminder of our own mortality and insignificance.  He urged us to remember that even though we were entering a period of self-denial, penitence, and yes, sadness over the treatment of our Lord and Savior, we should never forget that the reason for the season was not to commemorate the passion and death of Christ by which He Himself paid the sin-offering to redeem all mankind, but rather the Easter Miracle — the Resurrection of Christ, by which He triumphed over death and the grave itself, and that His crucifixion and death was but a necessary preliminary.  The application of ashes itself took place after communion at the end of the Mass, following the final prayers but before the dismissal.

Nowadays the palms are usually burned in the late summer, as I mentioned, as part of an outdoor mass; they are piled onto one of those metal fire-bowl thingies and burned as part of the liturgy.  But I still miss the older method, where it had a definite connection to the liturgical cycle.  I miss the way Monsignor delivered his sermons, along with my readiness as a good Catholic youth to accept all that was being taught me.  And during the midsummernight's 'Burning of the Palms' fire, my now grown-up mind — with its by-now well-cultivated snarkiness, cynicism, and occasional streaks of secularity — often wonders if this will be the year someone shows up with hot dogs or marshmallows.
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dales
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Re: Holy Humpday, Batman!

Post by dales »

RayThom wrote:Will the real Jesus please ascend.

........................WESTERN..........................................MIDDLE EASTERN (Real)....................

I've always wondered if a DNA typing was done on Jesus would we discover God's DNA?

Your collective inability to acknowledge this obvious truth makes you all look like fools.


yrs,
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Bicycle Bill
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Re: Holy Humpday, Batman!

Post by Bicycle Bill »

dales wrote:
RayThom wrote:Will the real Jesus please ascend.

........................WESTERN..........................................MIDDLE EASTERN (Real)....................
I've always wondered if a DNA typing was done on Jesus would we discover God's DNA?
No, because if you believe the Bible , specifically the Gospel of Luke
And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
And the angel came in unto her, and said, "Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women."
And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
And the angel said unto her, "Fear not, Mary:  for thou hast found favor with God.
And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.
He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end."
Then said Mary unto the angel, "How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?"
And the angel answered and said unto her, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God."    (Luke 1:26-35, KJV)
the only DNA involved would be His mother's.

Which of course also provides a biological answer to the question about Jesus' middle name/what the 'H' stands for in "Jesus H. Christ"
..... and that would be 'haploid'.
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dales
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Re: Holy Humpday, Batman!

Post by dales »

A person receives one half of his DNA from his Father and the other half from his mother.

You are prolly thinking of mitochondrial DNA which resides outside the cell's nucleus and is transferred via the mother.


Did Adam have a belly-button?

Your collective inability to acknowledge this obvious truth makes you all look like fools.


yrs,
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RayThom
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Holy Humpday, Batman!

Post by RayThom »

dales wrote:... Did Adam have a belly-button?
Well, according to early images... yes.

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Re: Holy Humpday, Batman!

Post by Burning Petard »

But no scar from the rib-ectomy. Whoops. Later edit. Just remembered that rib-removal took place after the scene depicted above.
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