Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday, the seventh Wednesday preceding Easter Sunday, is the first day of the season of Lent. Its name comes from the ancient practice of placing ashes on worshippers’ heads or foreheads as a sign of humility before God, a symbol of mourning and sorrow. Lent is a season for penance, reflection and fasting in order to prepare ourselves for Christ's Resurrection and for our Redemption.
The Ashes
The ashes are made from the previous years blessed palms from Palm Sunday.
Why we receive the ashes
The ashes imposed on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday are a symbol of penance made sacramental by the blessing of the Church to help us develop a spirit of humility and sacrifice. Ashes remind us of our original sin and our need of redemption, - our need to be cleansed of sin and made worthy of Salvation....
"Remember, Man is dust, and unto dust you shall return".
The custom is from an old ceremony. Christians who had committed grave faults were obliged to do public penance. On Ash Wednesday the Bishop blessed the hair shirts which they were to wear during the forty days, and sprinkled over them ashes made from the palms from the previous year. Then, while the faithful recited the Seven Penitential Psalms, the penitents were turned out of the holy place because of their sins, as Adam, the first man was turned out of paradise on account of his disobedience. They did not enter the Church again until Maundy Thursday after having won reconciliation by the toil of forty days' penance and sacramental absolution. Later on, all Christians, either public or secret penitents, came out of devotion to receive ashes.
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