US (2/22/12)—February 22nd, 2012, marks the beginning of Lent for many Roman Catholics all over the globe. Commonly known as Ash Wednesday, the holy day leads believers into a season of penance, reflection, and fasting, which some Catholics believe will prepare them for Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday.
While Ash Wednesday is not considered a “Holy Day of Obligation” by the church, Roman Catholics are encouraged to attend Mass today in order to officiate the beginning of the Lenten Season.
It is during this special Mass that the literal ashes of palm leaves are distributed to those in attendance, hence the name “Ash Wednesday.” The ashes are made from the blessed palms used in the Catholics’ Palm Sunday celebration of the previous year. After each palm has been burned, the ashes are then christened with Holy water and are scented by exposure to incense.
Once the ashes have been properly composed, attendants at the Mass come forward to receive them. In accordance with tradition, the priest dips his right thumb in the ashes, draws the sign of the cross on each person’s forehead, and recites a variation of the following biblical passage: “Remember, man, thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return.”
But where did this Holy tradition stepped in penance, sacrament, humility, and sacrifice originate?
The distribution of ashes comes from a ceremony of ages past. Christians who had committed grave faults were required to perform public penance.
On Ash Wednesday, the Bishop blessed the “hair shirts”—which the sinner was to wear during the forty days of penance—and sprinkled ashes over them made from the palms of the previous years (as is the tradition for all Roman Catholics today). Following this act, the person would recite the “Seven Penitential Psalms,” which come from the penitents who were cast out of the church for their sins. These penitents were not allowed sanctuary within the church until “Maundy Thursday” when they had achieved their reconciliation through the hardship of forty days penance and sacramental absolution (fasting).
Later in history, many Christians came to receive the sacred ashes as a simple symbol of devotion to their beliefs, rather than a public ceremony only. Sometimes, this distribution of ashes was also followed by a “penitential procession.”
Today, many of the historical traditions surrounding Ash Wednesday are continued, such as fasting and the distribution of ash, and remain as a reminder of man’s mortality and need for penance to Catholics. The ashes that Catholics receive today, therefore, are also a reminder of mankind’s own sinfulness and vulnerability, and many Catholics will leave the ashes on their foreheads all day as a sign of humility before God.
Luke Short
SurfKY News
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