So suggests Bishop Kieran Conry of Arundel and Brighton, England. The Catholic Herald quotes Bishop Conry:
The wearing of the ashes provides us with a wonderful opportunity to share with people how important our faith is to us and to point them to the cross of Christ. I invite you where possible to attend a morning or lunchtime Mass.
“Please try not to rub off your ashes as soon as you leave church, but take the sign of the cross to all those that you meet – in your school, office, factory, wherever you may be. This might just make people curious and wonder why you would do this. If you explain about Lent and Easter it might just make them think and may even awaken in them the questions that might lead to faith. Many people have a dim awareness of Lent and even ashes. It would be good to make this clear rather than dim.
Good suggestion from the Bishop.
When I first came to the US I was impressed by the number of people in our company who displayed the ashes on their foreheads. That was not unusual in Ireland, but in ‘pagan America’…? Our headquarters were located a few blocks from the Cathedral which had a noon Mass on Ash Wednesday (and on Holydays…). Dozens of staffers could be found at Mass there, using their lunch hour to witness to their faith. I suspect the numbers are less today, but 40 years ago it was still impressive.
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