Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. Lent is the forty days leading up to Easter. This is a very important time to Catholics because the forty days signify Jesus’ forty days spent in the desert.
On Ash Wednesday, us Catholics receive ashes in the shape of a cross on their forehead. These ashes are made from the palms used during the previous year’s Palm Sunday Mass. Ashes symbolize penance. This is appropriate because Lent is a season of penance, and reminds Catholics of mortality. During the Mass, as the priest or minister applies the ashes, he says “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.” Anyone who attends a Mass can receive ashes, not just Catholics. This year Ash Wednesday is on February 14, 2024 (which also happens to be Valentine’s Day).
Ashes signify internal state of penance or mourning, especially in the Old Testament. Here are some scripture passages that convey this message:
“Therefore I disown what I have said, and repent in dust and ashes.” – Job 42: 6
“Daughter of my people, dress in sackcloth, roll in the ashes.” – Jeremiah 6:26
“I turned to the Lord God, to seek help, in prayer and petition, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.” – Daniel 9:3
“When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. Then he had this proclaimed throughout Nineveh:* “By decree of the king and his nobles, no man or beast, no cattle or sheep, shall taste anything; they shall not eat, nor shall they drink water. Man and beast alike must be covered with sackcloth and call loudly to God; they all must turn from their evil way and from the violence of their hands.” – Jonah 3: 6-8
We will celebrate Ash Wednesday with an all school mass together in Alumni Gym!
