![]() When we think about life, we have the tendency to think about who we are," he wrote. "Ash Wednesday understands that when we only think about life, we tend to think about what we want to do, our likes and dislikes, etc. Why? Father Tom Gibbons, CSP, tackled this question in a column he wrote for Busted Halo. Although Ash Wednesday is not a holy day of obligation, many people line up to receive their ashes each year. Like the early Christians who asked to receive ashes, this practice remains popular among the faithful today. This same rite of distributing ashes on the Wednesday that begins Lent was recommended for universal use by Pope Urban II at the Synod of Benevento in 1091." Learn more. 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 of our sins during the Lenten feast' (“Aelfric’s Lives of Saints,” 1881, p. ![]() Around the year 1000, Abbot Aelfric of the monastery of Eynsham, England, wrote: 'We read in the books both in the Old Law and in the new that men who repented of their sins bestowed on themselves with ashes and clothed their bodies with sackcloth. ![]() Gregory the Great, the practice was further expanded and is mentioned in the sixth-century Gregorian Sacramentary. "Christian men had ashes sprinkled on their heads while ashes were used to trace the cross on the forehead of women." Other baptized Christians began asking to receive ashes in a manner similar to catechumens and penitents," according to Our Sunday Visitor. Confessed sinners of that era were also marked with ashes as part of the public penitential process. "Ashes were imposed on the early catechumens when they began their preparation time for baptism. The Old Testament offers several examples of how we have a long tradition of using ashes as an "outward sign of grief, a mark of humility, mourning, penance and morality," according to Our Sunday Visitor. "The ashes are a sign of mortality and a sign of renewal in Christ." Learn more in our Lenten Q&A. As God breathed life into the dust at the beginning he can breathe new life into those who have fallen into sin," he added. "To recall that only with the breath of God can we have life is motivation to reorder whatever part of life needs it. Why? Father Erik Pohlmeier, diocesan director of faith formation, said the prayer offered as ashes are given answers this question. "The words are a reminder of our origins, 'Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.' The ashes and the whole season of Lent are a time to refocus on our relationship with God and that relationship starts with a dependence on God for our very existence." Though it is not a holy day of obligation, it is a day of fast and abstinence. We are marked with ashes, in the form of a cross, on our forehead on Ash Wednesday. Please be generous.Īsh Wednesday begins our Lenten journey toward the celebration of Easter. A special Ash Wednesday Collection will be taken up during all Masses in the Diocese of Little Rock to support the evangelization mission of the Church in Arkansas by helping to provide for the priests, religious and lay people who proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ in places where the people they serve don't have the financial resources to provide for them. ![]() Confirm schedule by calling the parish office. To find an Ash Wednesday Mass in your area, click on the button above to visit a parish near you to find Mass times.
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