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Citizen Posts
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Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. Fasting on Ash Wednesday is a common practice among many Christians, especially Roman Catholics and the Christian Orthodox churches, as a way to begin the season of Lent with humility and repentance.
In Roman Catholic liturgy for Ash Wednesday, they use ashes made from the burned palm branches distributed on Palm Sunday of the previous year. The priest blesses the ashes and imposes them on the foreheads of the faithful, making the sign of the cross, saying, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
It’s a reminder of our need for God’s grace and the sacrifice of Jesus. The ashes symbolize grief for things done wrong and the resulting division of imperfect people from a perfect God. St John Paul II once said that Roman Catholics utilize physical signs and symbolism in their faith to denote the spiritual.
