Ash Wednesday | A Penitential Office for the Blessing of Ashes
A PENITENTIAL OFFICE for the BLESSING of ASHES that precedes Divine Worship, the Venerable English Mass of the Ordinariate. EXADUI NOS Psalm 69.17, 1 HEAR me, O Lord, for thy loving-kindness is comfortable: turn thee unto me according to the multitude of thy mercies. Ps. Save me, O God, for the waters are come in even unto my soul. (Bow) Glory be… (Upright) As it was... Hear me… The Celebrant now turns to the people and says: BRETHREN, it has been the custom in the Church from ancient times to observe with great devotion the days of our Lord’s Passion and Resurrection, and to prepare for the same by a season of penitence and fasting. This season of Lent provided also a time in which converts to the faith were prepared for holy Baptism. It was also a time when such persons as had, by reason of notorious sins, been separated from the body of the faithful, were reconciled and restored to the fellowship of the Church by penitence and forgiveness. Thereby the whole Church was...