Ash Wednesday – which this year falls on March 5 – marks the start of the liturgical season of Lent. While it is not a holy day of obligation, it is a special day set aside for prayer, abstinence (refraining from eating meat), fasting (reducing your caloric intake) and repentance. But what do you know about this holy day, and how can observing it help you to live into a holier Lent.
Ash Wednesday evolved from the ancient Jewish tradition of penance and fasting. Ashes have long been a visible symbol of humanity’s grief that our sin caused division from God. Writings from the second-century refer to the wearing of ashes on the head as a sign of penance. They were even applied after going to confession in the early Church. The ashes also symbolize the dust from which God made us. This is recalled when a priest applies the ashes to a person’s forehead and says, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Yet the ashes are also a symbol of our hope that God is gracious and merciful to those who call on Him with repentant hearts.