Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, which is the Catholic season of repentance and reflection. Although the period between Epiphany (Christmas) and Lent is officially “ordinary time” in the liturgical year, in Catholic countries it traditionally ends with several days of revelry and partying (known as Carnival in Brazil and Venice, and Mardi Gras in Louisiana) that culminates in Fat Tuesday. Lent leads up to Easter.
Huguley Hospital is an Adventist Health System facility in Burleson, Texas, just south of Fort Worth. Huguley is named after Herbert T. Huguley, a dentist and a real estate investor who bequeathed $6 million, in honor of his parents, to establish the hospital. It initially opened in 1977 and has expanded several times, most recently in 2016, when a new glass-facade patient tower was opened. In 2012, Texas Health bought a 51% share of Huguley Hospital, which is now known as Texas Health Huguley.
On Fat Tuesday, Huguley’s chief chaplain sent around an email explaining what Lent is, and stating that “trained Eucharist ministers” would be administering the ashes at Huguley’s chapel:
Hello Associates,
During the months of March and April, millions of Christians, and other religions, around the world take some time to remember the scared sacrifice of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ through the Ashe Wednesday festival.
A little History
Ash Wednesday comes from the ancient Jewish tradition of penance and fasting. For the Roman Catholics, Episcopalian, Methodist, Presbyterian and other liturgical traditions, Ash Wednesday is one of the most popular and important holy days in the liturgical calendar. Ash Wednesday opens Lent, a season of fasting and prayer. It comes from the ancient Jewish tradition of penance and fasting. The practice includes the wearing of askes on the head. The ashes symbolize the dust from which God made us. As the minister applies the ashes to a persons forehead, he speaks the words: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Who Can Participate?
All are invited to accept the ashes as a visible symbol of penance. Even non-Christians and those who left the faith are welcome to receive the ashes. The ashes are made from blessed palm branches, taken from the previous year’s pal Sunday Mass. Small children, the elderly and sick are exempt from this observance. Remember: it is not required that a person wear the ashes for the rest of the day, and they may be washed off. However, many people keep the ashes as a reminder until the evening.
How Are We Going to Do It?
This Wednesday, February 25th @ 8:30am 10:00am 12noon and 7:30pm in the chapel. There will be trained Eucharist ministers administering the ashes to all those who are interested in partaking.
If you wish to not participate, you do no have to, kindly inform the ministers that you wish not to partake of the ashes. Here is more information about the observance:http://www.catholic.org/lent/ashwed.php
Thank you,
Chaplain Theo,
Theodore Stewart,
It is helpful to know that Texas Health Resources, which now owns a controlling stake in Huguley Hospital, was formed by the merger of two very large hospitals, one Methodist the other Presbyterian, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. These denominations are ever more accepting of the liturgical calendar, with its practices that originated in the Roman Catholic Church. Note that Chaplain Theo is not at all shy about the Catholic aspect of Lent: those who want more information about Ash Wednesday are directed toward “www.Catholic.org.” I have personally witnessed Ash Wednesday in a Presbyterian Church, and they do wear the ashes.
But does Lent really come from Jewish tradition? Although we frequently read in the Hebrew Scriptures of people repenting in “sackcloth and ashes,” it is not at all clear that Lent originated there. To the contrary, many Protestants, notably including Rev. Alexander Hislop in his book, “The Two Babylons,” have argued that the 40 day period of Lent actually comes to us from the ancient Babylonian mystery religion, which had a period of 40 days of weeping for Tammuz, mentioned in Scripture. Ezek. 8:11-16. Lent is pagan religion amalgamated with Christianity.
We are clearly seeing apostate Protestantism “stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power.”