Ash Wednesday
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On this day the Church invites us to receive a cross of ashes on our
foreheads as a sign that during the coming Season of Lent we will make
sincere efforts to cleanse our lives of sin and to discipline ourselves
through prayer and fasting. The ashes are made from the burned-up palms from last year's Palm Sunday. Ashes and the Word of God As with all material things which are used as religious symbols, the symbolism of ashes is complex. In themselves ashes have little meaning. The "dust" into which we shall return, taken by itself can be perceived as just a morbid reminder that one day we will die and can even become an empty superstition rather than a religious act. But received in light of God's revealing Word, ashes can become for us as Christians the biblical symbol they are intended to be. Ashes recall that we are mortal and subject to death. God's Word reminds us that it is not the death of the body, but rather the death of the soul that is to be feared. Though the Scripture readings God calls us to return to Him with our whole heart and therefore the reception of the ashes becomes for us the symbol of hearts that desire to turn to God, a God who is "gracious and merciful, rich in kindness and relenting in punishment." |