“We are the dust loved by God”: this is what the liturgy of Ash Wednesday, the day that marks the beginning of Lent, tells us through the rite of the imposition of ashes.
Before discovering how this celebration originated and what it means for us today, let us see how the rite of the imposition of ashes is carried out during the time of COVID.

The imposition of ashes during the pandemic
The annual celebration of Ash Wednesday, which introduces us to the season of Lent, takes place this year under particular circumstances. In a document, the Congregation for Divine Worship explained how the rite changes during the time of COVID.
After blessing the ashes and sprinkling them with holy water, the priest - the note specifies - addresses those present, reciting “once for everyone the formula provided by the Roman Missal: ‘Repent and believe in the Gospel,’ or: ‘Remember, man, that you are dust and to dust you will return.’”
Then, the note continues, “the priest cleanses his hands and puts on a mask to protect his nose and mouth, then imposes the ashes on those who come forward to him or, if appropriate, he himself approaches those who remain standing in their places.” The priest, it concludes, “takes the ashes and lets them fall on the head of each person, without saying anything.”
All priests of the Catholic Church must celebrate the rite of ashes using this new formula.

Read also:
Lent: the springtime of the Church.

The origin of the rite of ashes
The origin of Ash Wednesday can be traced back to the ancient penitential practice. Originally, the sacrament of penance was not celebrated privately as it is today, but in a public celebration.
The celebration of ashes arose precisely because of the public celebration of penance: the imposition of ashes was in fact the rite that began the penitential journey of the faithful who would be absolved of their sins on the morning of Holy Thursday.
Later, the gesture of the imposition of ashes was extended to all the faithful and placed within the Mass at the end of the homily. 
The ash used in the rite is obtained from olive branches blessed on Palm Sunday of the previous year, then burned and preserved for this very purpose. This ash is blessed by the priest and used to trace a cross on the heads or foreheads of the faithful during the liturgy.

The biblical meaning of ashes
The ash with which people sprinkle their heads appears frequently in the biblical text and has a twofold meaning.
First of all, it indicates the weak and fragile condition of human beings. Abraham, addressing God, says: “See how I dare to speak to my Lord, I who am dust and ashes…” (Gn 18:27). Job, acknowledging the profound limitation of his existence, and with a sense of utter prostration, declares: “He has thrown me into the mud: I have become dust and ashes” (Jb 30:19). This precarious dimension of human beings, symbolized by ashes, can be found in many other biblical passages.
Ashes, however, are also the outward sign of one who repents of their actions and decides to undertake a renewed journey toward the Lord. In this sense, the biblical account of the conversion of the inhabitants of Nineveh following Jonah’s preaching is very well known: “The people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a fast, and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth. When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes” (Jon 3:5-6).

We are the dust loved by God
In the symbol of ashes, therefore, human weakness and the sure hope of renewed life come together, if only we have the courage to “re-turn,” that is, to “change direction,” returning to the Lord, who loves us and always awaits us to give us his embrace.
Pope Francis beautifully brings together the two meanings of the symbol of ashes in a synthesis that speaks to us today and tells us never to abandon hope, because we are beloved children: “The dust on our heads brings us back to earth, reminding us that we come from the earth and that to the earth we will return. In other words, we are weak, fragile and mortal. Over the centuries and millennia, we are passing through; before the immensity of the galaxies and space, we are tiny. We are dust in the universe. But we are dust loved by God. The Lord has loved taking our dust into his hands and breathing into it his breath of life (cf. Gn 2:7). Thus we are precious dust, destined to live forever. We are the earth onto which God has poured his heaven, the dust that contains his dreams. We are God’s hope, his treasure, his glory.
Ashes thus remind us of the path of our existence: from dust to life. We are dust, earth, clay, but if we allow ourselves to be shaped by God’s hands, we become a marvel. And yet, often, especially in difficulties and solitude, we see only our dust! But the Lord encourages us: the little we are has infinite value in his eyes. Courage, we were born to be loved, we were born to be children of God” (Pope Francis).

From “You are dust…” to “Repent”
The formula accompanying the imposition of ashes has also changed over time: originally it was “Remember, man, that you are dust and to dust you will return,” taken from the Book of Genesis (3:19).
After the liturgical reform that followed the Second Vatican Council, this phrase remained as an option, and Jesus’ invitation was added: “Repent and believe in the Gospel” (Mk 1:15), which expresses, alongside the penitential aspect, the positive aspect of Lent as a time of conversion, assiduous prayer and return to God.

Read also:
The Way of the Cross: a journey of love and hope.

Fasting and abstinence from meat
Ash Wednesday is a day of fasting and abstinence from meat (as is Good Friday, while on the Fridays of Lent, people are encouraged to abstain from meat). As one of the Lenten prefaces reminds us, “through Lenten fasting” it is possible to overcome “our passions” and elevate “the spirit.” Fasting means abstinence from food, but it also includes other forms of deprivation for a more sober life. It “constitutes an important opportunity for growth,” Pope Francis explained, because “it allows us to experience what those who lack even the necessities of life go through” and “makes us more attentive to God and our neighbor,” rekindling “the desire to obey God, who alone satisfies our hunger.”

Some advice for fully living the season of Lent
If we live Lent in the perspective indicated by Pope Francis, we can certainly discover that it is a time of grace, a time of conversion, a time of desert and silence, in which we are invited to return to ourselves and place ourselves before the Lord, discovering that we are at once small and fragile, but also infinitely loved.
Let us conclude, therefore, with a few suggestions for living this time fully in prayer and ensuring that it does not pass like any ordinary time, but leaves its mark within you and leads you to a life as a child of God, to a deeply renewed life:

• Let Us Adore the Blessed Sacrament vol. 2 - Prayers for Lent
• Healing and Deliverance Through Fasting
• Via Caritatis - Way of the Cross with Blessed Carlo Acutis
• Way of the Cross - Prayer and meditation suggestions for everyone
• “No one has greater love than this” The Passion in the Word

Have a blessed journey!