Ash Wednesday: Entering the Holy Season of Lent

Remember, man, that thou art dust, and into dust thou shalt return

To-day’s station at Rome is at Saint-Sabina’s on the Aventine, in a sanctuary built on the former site of the holy martyr’s house. Having been converted by her maid-servant, she was beheaded for the faith and secretly buried. It is to this Church that, in former times, the Pope used to go barefoot to begin with holy fasts the exercises of christian warfare, that as we do battle with the spirits of evil, we may be protected by the help of self-denial. In the fifth century it was one of the twenty-five parishes of Rome.

Following the example of the Ninivites, who did penance in sackcloth and ashes, the Church to-day, to humble our pride and remind us of the sentence of death, which as a consequence of our sins we are bound to undergo, sprinkles ashes on our heads with the words: “Remember, man, that thou art dust, and into dust shalt thou return.” We come from dust and to dust we shall return! Here indeed, is a thought that should humble our pride.

In this custom we have the remains of an ancient ceremony referred to in the Roman Pontifical. Those Christians who were guilty of grave faults had to undergo public penance. Accordingly on Ash Wednesday, the Bishop used to bless the sackcloth which was to be worn by the penitents during the holy Forty Days, and place upon their heads ashes made from palms used the previous year in the Palm Sunday procession. Then, while the faithful were singing the Seven Penitential Psalms, “the penitents were expelled from the holy place on account of their sins, just as Adam was driven out of paradise because of his disobedience”. They were not allowed to put off their penitential garb or to re-enter the Church before Holy Thursday after they had gained their reconciliation by toil and penance, and by sacramental confession and absolution.

At the Council of Beneventum (1091) Pope Urban VI commanded that the ashes should be received by all the faithful indiscriminately. Let us receive them in a spirit of humility and penance, that by this powerful sacramental we may obtain from almighty God the blessings which the Church implores in the act of blessing them. “For, truly, God overlooks the sins of men for the sake of repentance” (Introit). He is “rich in mercy” to those who are “converted to Him with all their heart in fasting and in weeping and in mourning” (Epistle). We must not indeed, like the Pharisees, rend our garments as a sign of grief; but rather our hearts (ibid.), for it is not men who are to testify to our fasting, but our Father who sees our innermost souls and will repay us (Gospel), as our Lord Himself tells us in the Sermon on the Mount¹. Let us then, draw from the Eucharist the help which we need (Postcommunion), so that celebrating to-day the institution of this sacred fast (Secret), we may “perform it with a devotion which nothing can disturb” (Collect). - The St. Andrew Daily Missal Imprimatur 1945

The Start of Lent

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the sacred season of Lent — a forty-day period of prayer, fasting, and preparation leading us to Easter.

Ash Wednesday falls forty-six days before Easter. Yet we call Lent forty days long because the six Sundays during Lent are not counted as days of fasting. From Ash Wednesday forward, the Church invites us into a penitential spirit — a time of reflection, sacrifice, and renewal.

Why Forty Days?

The forty days of Lent are observed in imitation of Our Lord, who fasted for forty days in the desert before beginning His public life. Just as Christ prepared Himself through fasting sand prayer, we too prepare our hearts for the joy of Easter.

The final two weeks of Lent are especially sacred. They are known as Passion Week and Holy Week, when the Church follows Christ closely through the last stages of His mortal life.

The Purpose of Fasting and Abstinence

The Church commands fasting and abstinence not because food is evil, but because self-denial strengthens the soul.

We fast:

• To control the desires of the flesh

• To raise our minds more freely to God

• To make satisfaction for sin

Fasting and abstinence are pleasing to God when they are joined with:

• Turning away from sin

• Performing good works

• Patiently accepting daily trials

• Abstaining from worldly pleasures and amusements

Lent is not simply about giving something up — it is about drawing closer to Christ.

As St. Paul writes:“I chastise my body and bring it into subjection…” (1 Cor. 9:27)

Through discipline of the body, the soul grows stronger.

Catholics between the ages of 21 and 59, inclusive, may have but one principal or full meal, and meat may be eaten at this meal only. They may have two other light meals with no meat. Days of FAST are the weekdays (Monday-Saturday) of LENT including HOLY SATURDAY. Three full meals and meat may be eaten at every meal on Sundays.

All Catholics, of every age, should not indulge in sweets and delicacies throughout Lent.

The Spirit of Lent

In keeping with the spirit of Lent, Catholics are encouraged to:

• Abstain from unnecessary worldly amusements

• Devote more time to prayer

• Practice penance

• Engage in religious exercises

• Perform acts of charity

During the period of Lent, the public life of Our Lord is set before us, including His fasting. His Passion, and His Death. The Church forbids the saying of the Nuptial Mass in Lent.