12/02/2024
ASH WEDNESDAY + | FEBRUARY 14, 2024🙏🏻
“Remember you are dust and to dust, you shall return.” - Genesis 3:19📖
Ash Wednesday is the first day of the liturgical season of Lent in the Catholic Church. It occurs 46 days before Easter Sunday and is a day of fasting, abstinence, and repentance. On Ash Wednesday, Catholics receive ashes on their foreheads in the shape of a cross as a sign of their mortality and need for repentance.
The ashes used on Ash Wednesday are typically made from the burnt palms from the previous year's Palm Sunday. They are blessed by a priest or deacon during a special Ash Wednesday Mass or liturgy. As the ashes are applied to the forehead, the priest or minister says, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return" or a similar phrase, reminding the faithful of their mortality and the need to turn away from sin.
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the penitential season of Lent, which is a time of preparation and spiritual renewal leading up to Easter. It is a period of 40 days (excluding Sundays) that recalls the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert fasting and praying before beginning his public ministry.
During Lent, Catholics are called to deepen their relationship with God through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. The ashes received on Ash Wednesday serve as a visible reminder of this spiritual journey and the need for personal conversion. It is a time for introspection, self-examination, and repentance, as individuals strive to turn away from sin and grow closer to God.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church does not have a specific paragraph dedicated to Ash Wednesday. However, it does mention the importance of repentance and conversion, which are central themes of Ash Wednesday. For example, paragraph 1431 states, "Interior repentance is a radical reorientation of our whole life, a return, a conversion to God with all our heart, an end of sin, a turning away from evil, with repugnance toward the evil actions we have committed" (CCC 1431).
Ash Wednesday serves as a solemn and significant day in the Catholic Church, marking the beginning of a season of reflection, penance, and spiritual growth as believers prepare to celebrate the Paschal Mystery of Christ's passion, death, and resurrection during Holy Week and Easter.
