Ash Wednesday is a solemn reminder of human mortality and the need for reconciliation with God and marks the beginning of the penitential Lenten season. It is commonly observed with ashes and fasting. But how did this tradition come about ?
There is no mention of Ash Wednesday in the Bible. But there is a custom of donning ashes as a sign of penitence that predates Jesus. In the Old Testament, Job repents “in dust and ashes” and there are other associations of ashes and repentance in Esther, Samuel, Isaiah and Jeremiah. By the 10th century, the monk, Aelfric started the practice, which dates to the eighth century, to the period before Easter, writing, “Now let us do this little at the beginning of our Lent that we strew ashes upon our heads to signify that we ought to repent our sins during the Lenten fast.” By the 11th century, the practice was widespread throughout the Church — until Martin Luther, the Protestant reformer, threw the practice out in the 16th century because it was not Biblically based. There’s no Lent in the Bible, either, though many Christians see it as an imitation of the 40 days Jesus spent fasting and battling with Satan in the desert.
According to Britannica.com, Lent has been likely observed: “since apostolic times, though the practice was not formalized until the First Council of Nicaea in 325 CE.” Christian scholars note that Lent became more regularized after the legalization of Christianity in A.D. 313. St. Irenaeus, Pope St. Victor I, and St. Athanasius all seem to have written about Lent during their ministries. Most agree that “by the end of the fourth century, the 40-day period of Easter preparation known as Lent existed, and that prayer and fasting constituted its primary spiritual exercises.”
But whatever maybe the history the ashes symbolize two main things: death and repentance. “Ashes are equivalent to dust, and human flesh is composed of dust or clay (Genesis 2:7), and when a human corpse decomposes, it returns to dust or ash.”
This is the important significance that all of us have to identify with “When we come forward to receive ashes on Ash Wednesday, we are saying that we are sorry for our sins, and that we want to use the season of Lent to correct our faults, purify our hearts, control our desires and grow in holiness so we will be prepared to celebrate Easter with great joy, peace and happiness.”
With this focus on our own mortality and sinfulness, Christians can enter into the Lent season solemnly, while also looking forward in greater anticipation and joy to the message of Easter and Christ’s ultimate victory over sin and death.
This Lent season let us meditate and reflect , and then say the prayer to observe the day.
• Our Creation: Genesis 2:7 – Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
• Our Curse: Genesis 3:19 – By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
Our Cry of Repentance: Psalm 51:7- 10 – Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me
A Prayer for Ash Wednesday:Lord, Holy One, have mercy on us. We confess our sins to you. We have fallen short of your glory and without your mercy and grace, we would be dust. We repent now, Lord, as we enter into this Lenten season, be near to us. Help us, through your Holy Spirit, to feel the right conviction and repentance for our sins and help us to have the strength to overcome the enemy.
Thank you, Lord, that Easter is coming! Death has no sting, no victory, because of Jesus! Glory and honor and praise to His name! Thank you for rescuing us. Help us keep both the grace and the joy of this season in our hearts and help us bear the good fruit of your Spirit, Amen.By Gladys Da Silva