What is Ash Wednesday?
Ash Wednesday is a holy day of prayer and fasting in many Western Christian denominations. It is preceded by Shrove Tuesday and marks the first day of Lent, the six weeks of penitence before Easter.[1]
Ash Wednesday is observed by Catholics, Lutherans, Moravians, Anglicans, Methodists, and Nazarenes, as well as by some churches in the Reformed tradition, including certain Congregationalist, Continental Reformed, and Presbyterian churches.[2]
Ash Wednesday is traditionally observed with fasting and abstinence from meat in several Christian denominations.[3][4][5] As it is the first day of Lent, many Christians begin Ash Wednesday by marking a Lenten calendar, praying a Lenten daily devotional, and making a Lenten sacrifice that they will not partake of until the arrival of Eastertide.[6][7]
Many Christians attend special Ash Wednesday church services, at which churchgoers receive ash on their foreheads. Ash Wednesday derives its name from this practice, in which the placement of ashes is accompanied by the words, “Repent, and believe in the Gospel” or the dictum “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”[8][9] The ashes are prepared by burning palm leaves from the previous year’s Palm Sunday celebrations.[10] – read on
Taken from Ash Wednesday – Wikipedia
Why we receive the ashes?
The ashes we receive on our foreheads remind us of our mortality and our need for repentance. They are a sign of our sorrow for our sins and our desire to be reconciled with God. The palms that were blessed on Palm Sunday of the previous year are used to make the ashes, which represent Christ’s victory over death.
The origin of this practice goes back to the ancient times when public sinners had to do penance in sackcloth and ashes for forty days before Easter. They were blessed by the bishop and then excluded from the church, like Adam was expelled from Eden for his sin. They could only return after they had received absolution on Holy Thursday. Absolution is the sacramental forgiveness of sins, given by a priest in the name of Christ and the Church. It restores the sinner to God’s grace and friendship. Later, this custom was extended to all the faithful, who wanted to express their repentance and solidarity with the penitents.
The ashes are imposed on us while we say the Seven Penitential Psalms, which are psalms that express our sorrow for our sins, our hope in God’s forgiveness, and our commitment to follow his ways. They are Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143. The words that accompany the ashes are:
“Remember, Man is dust, and unto dust, you shall return.”
They echo the words God said to Adam after the fall, reminding us that we are not made for this world, but for heaven.
Paraphrased from Catholic.org.
Online, C. (n.d.). Ash Wednesday – Easter / Lent. [online] Catholic Online. Available at: https://www.catholic.org/lent/ashwed.php?goal=0_5313b3b4db-3c9d4e36b7-37581430&mc_cid=3c9d4e36b7&mc_eid=3a7f64aef3 [Accessed 14 Feb. 2024].