Regarding Ash Wednesday (Subdeacon Steven Lohrenz)

Ash Wednesday immediately precedes the liturgical season of Great Lent and falls this year on Wednesday, Feb 21, 2007. Although it is not an official day of obligation it is the most popular and attended liturgy in the Catholic Church. Statistics show that people who don't regularly attend weekly mass will often make an effort to appear before the altar to receive the ashes. By receiving ashes on the forehead in the form of the Cross, one can begin the penitential process in preparation for the most holy season. Traditionally, one is to use the time between Ash Wednesday and the first Sunday of Great Lent (February 25 this year) to get spiritually organized, so to speak. Prayerfully meditating on one's life and the sacrifices about to be undertaken during the forty days of Lent can help a Christian become aware of their spirituality in a way which will serve them well through the season of fasting and seeking a closer relationship with Christ through the Spirit. The liturgy which takes place on Ash Wednesday is of course an odd ritual, however one which makes a great deal of sense for those who make it their practice to follow the historical journey throughout the annual liturgical calendar.

Scriptural References

The symbology of the ashes is completely penitential. In the old times penance for sin was something which was not treated lightly. It was common in Israel that the village center would accommodate someone dressed in sack cloth and covered in ashes, a predicament undertaken as a public display of regret for having transgressed the Law. The Prophet Jeremiah advises, "O daughter of my people, gird on sackcloth, roll in the ashes" (Jer 6:26). Although the Prophet Isaiah is critical of the procedure (Is 58:5), the Prophet Daniel is said to have undertaken the rite as a sign of Israel's repentance (Dn 9:3). It is also said that the King of Nineveh personally donned the sackcloth and ashes after hearing the message of the Prophet Jonah. We find the first Biblical reference of a ritual involving the placing of ashes on the heads of a large group of people in the Book of Judith (Jdt 4:11; see also 4:15 and 9:1). The Macabees also wore ashes on their foreheads in preparation for battle (1 Mc 3:47; see also 4:39). And in the New Testament Christ himself refers to the practice of wearing ashes as a sign of repentance (Mt 11:21, Lk 10:13).

References From the Early Church

There are surprisingly few references to the use of ashes by the Church in the first millennium. This is not to say that the custom was not undertaken (indeed it must have been for the practice was passed on for a thousand years), only that it was not written of particularly, and was probably not a universal observance. We find the earliest official reference to the liturgy of Ash Wednesday in the Romano-Germanic pontifical of 960. Before that time the sprinkling of ashes had remained a custom for the admission into the Order of Penitents (an order of faithful which is no longer referred to in the modern Church). Pope Urban II called for the use of ashes on the Wednesday prior to the first Sunday of Lent, and this day became known as Ash Wednesday as time went on.