February 22 is Ash Wednesday. Do you know what it means and what ashes signify? Find out with us!
What begins with Ash Wednesday?
With Ash Wednesday, the season of Lent begins, during which we prepare inwardly to undertake a journey of conversion that leads us to the joy of Easter with renewed hearts.
Where does the celebration of Ash Wednesday originate?
The celebration of Ash Wednesday originated from the public celebration of penance: it was the rite that marked the beginning of the penitential journey of the faithful who would receive absolution for their sins on the morning of Holy Thursday.
What is the meaning of ashes? Let’s open the Bible to find out.
Ash, with which we sprinkle our heads on Ash Wednesday, appears frequently in the Bible. We can draw two meanings from it. First of all, it reminds us of the fragile condition of human beings before the Lord. We read in Genesis: “See how I dare to speak to my Lord, I who am but dust and ashes” (Gn 18:27). Job also speaks to us of his profound misery: “He has cast me into the mire: I have become like dust and ashes” (Jb 30:19). We find other examples in the Book of Wisdom and the Book of Sirach. Finally, ashes are also a concrete sign of someone who has repented and, with a renewed spirit, resumes the journey toward the Lord, as we read in the Book of Jonah concerning the king of Nineveh, who, upon receiving news of his people’s conversion, sits in ashes, and in the Book of Judith, in which the inhabitants of Jerusalem who wish to pray to God to intervene and deliver them sprinkle their heads with ashes.
How are the ashes that will later be sprinkled on the heads of the faithful prepared?
The ashes that the priest uses to trace a cross on the heads of the faithful during the Ash Wednesday liturgy are prepared by burning the blessed olive branches distributed on Palm Sunday of the previous year, which are kept for this very purpose.
What is the meaning of fasting?
On Ash Wednesday, the Church invites us to fast and abstain from meat. The Church requires abstinence on every Friday of the year, but in recent decades this has been reduced to Fridays during Lent only. The other day of fasting and abstinence is Good Friday. This invitation is intended to involve each of us, in body and spirit, in the journey toward Easter. The Lord does not impose the practice of fasting, but reminds us of its necessity in resisting evil. Jesus always remains the model for Christians: forty days of fasting preceded the temptations in the desert, which Jesus overcame by resolutely adhering to the word of God: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Mt 4:4).
