14/02/2024
FEB 14, 2024—ASH WEDNESDAY
'Remember, you are dust, and to dust you shall return.'—Ecclesiastes 3:20
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent and is always 46 days before Easter Sunday. Lent is a 40-day season (not counting Sundays) marked by repentance, fasting, reflection, and ultimately celebration. This period represents Christ’s time of temptation in the wilderness, where he fasted and where Satan tempted him.
The ashes are prepared by burning palm branches from the previous Palm Sunday. On Palm Sunday, churches bless and hand out palm branches to attendees, a reference to the Gospels’ account of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, when onlookers lay palm branches on his path.
When we come forward to receive ashes on Ash Wednesday, we are saying that we are sorry for our sins, and that we want to use the season of Lent to correct our faults, purify our hearts, control our desires and grow in holiness so we will be prepared to celebrate Easter with great joy.
With this focus on our own mortality and sinfulness, Christians can enter into the Lent season solemnly, while also looking forward in greater anticipation and joy of the message of Easter and Christ’s ultimate victory over sin and death.
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Sources:
(1) Ash Wednesday — Catholic Online
(2) Lent — BBC
(3) Lent — Britannica
(4) What is Ash Wednesday for Christians? — C
(5) When does Lent start? — Aleteia
(6) Why do we receive ashes on Ash Wednesday? — The Catholic Spirit
(7) 📷 Pinterest