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It is the beginning of lent. Ashes from blessed palms are mixed with Holy water and a cross is marked on the persons forehead. "Ashes to Ashes and Dust to Dust" this is where the body came from and this is where it will return. The Soul (essence of a person) leaves the body and becomes united with God through our death to this world.

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15y ago
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15y ago

• Ashes in The Bible • "O daughter of my people, gird on sackcloth, roll in the ashes." (Jeremiah 6:26) "I turned to the Lord God, pleading in earnest prayer, 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 the ashes." (Jonah 3:6) "And all the Israelite men, women and children who lived in Jerusalem prostrated themselves in front of the temple building, with ashes strewn on their heads, displaying their sackcloth covering before the Lord." (Judith 4:11; see also 4:15 and 9:1) "That day they fasted and wore sackcloth; they sprinkled ashes on their heads and tore their clothes." (1 Maccabees 3:47; see also 4:39) Jesus refers to the use of sackcloth and ashes as signs of repentance: "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes." (Matthew 11:21, Luke 10:13) • Ash Wednesday • As the beginning of Lent, Ash Wednesday calls us to the conversion journey that marks the season. As those preparing to join the Church enter the final stage of their preparation for the Easter sacraments, we are all called to walk with them so that we will be prepared to renew our baptismal promises when Easter arrives. When we receive ashes on our foreheads, we remember:

• Who we are

• That we are creatures of the earth

. "Remember that you are dust"

• That we are mortal beings

. "and to dust you will return"

• That we are baptized

• That we are people on a journey of conversion

. "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel"

• That we are members of the body of Christ

• That smudge on our foreheads will proclaim that identity to others, too

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14y ago

Christians (like people in many religions) have certain days and certain times with special significance. Ash Wednesday is the day when people are told to consider the words of God to Adam right after he created him. "Dust you are. To dust you shall return." In other words consider what your life will have meant after you have gone. That is the purpose of the ashes.

Ash Wednesday also looks forward to the 40 days that Jesus spent in the desert. It involves days of fasting.

The day before Ash Wednesday was Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras. It is the last day of celebration. All that has now ended. The contrast between party and penance demonstrates the instant end of our mortality. So, unlike every other party, Mardi Gras ends with Ash Wednesday. You have been partying for a week. Midnight comes; you hear the clock chime;

then you hear the words, "Dust you are; to dust you shall return."

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14y ago

Ash Wednesday is the first day of the period leading up to the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus (Easter). This period is known as Lent and is a time set aside for repenting of sins and growing in faith through personal sacrifice. Ash Wednesday occurs forty days before Easter in reference to the forty days Jesus spent in the wild after his baptism.

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14y ago

Ash Wednesday is a day of repentance and it marks the beginning of Lent.

And hey, it's right after Mardi Gras. I'll leave it to you to do the research and find out the relationship between the two.

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11y ago

Ash Wednesday is probably one of the oddest days of the year. Although it has no assigned rank in the New General Roman Calendar issued after Vatican Council II, nevertheless, in order of precedence, it is listed thus:

I Solemnities

1 Easter Triduum of the Lord's passion and resurrection

2 Christmas, Epiphany, Ascension, and Pentecost, Sundays of Advent, Lent, and the season of Easter

Ash Wednesday

Weekdays of Holy Week, Monday to Thursday inclusive

Days within the octave of Easter

3 Solemnities of the Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and saints listed in the general calendar, All Souls' Day

4 Proper solemnities, namely: (etc.)

II (then follows the ranking of Feasts, Obligatory memorials, Optional memorials.

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, but it is not a Holy Day of Obligation. However, more people show up on Ash Wednesday, in the middle of a workweek, then show up for Holy Days of Obligation that are MAJOR Solemnities, such as the Immaculate Conception, the Assumption, and the Ascension (where it is still celebrated on its proper Thursday).

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, and has received its name from the custom of signing the foreheads of the faithful with Blessed Ashes from last year palms. In the early Church it was the day when public penitents were liturgically admitted to begin their penances. This fell into disuse from the 8th to the 10th centuries, and after that, the general penance of the whole community took its place, this was symbolized by the imposition of ashes on the heads of clergy and laity alike. (extracted from Modern Catholic Dictionary by John A. Hardon, S.J. Doubleday & Co., Inc. Garden City, NY 1980

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