Why the Ashes? by Cameron
Hi! In this post, I'm going to tell you about Ash Wednesday (tomorrow). This is the day that begins the season of Lent in the Catholic Church. It is also a day of prayer and fasting. I know that not everybody knows about this, but if you do, hopefully in this blogpost you may learn more.
The reason that this is being published before the usual Thursday, is so that if you want to get ashes, you have a little bit of notice. Here it is!
On the Wednesday that starts Lent, Catholics nationwide go to church to receive ashes on their foreheads. It is actually not just Catholics that do this, but many Christians of different denominations. This is done as a ceremony, to represent repentence and death. During this period, we do these things because Jesus died on the cross for us.
The priest blesses the ashes, then distributes them to people by usually marking a cross on the forehead, but sometimes by sprinkling them on their head. As the priest does it, he traditionally says: "Remember that you are dust, and from dust you shall return." This is what was spoken to Adam and Eve after they sinned in the garden. The priest can also use "Repent and believe in the gospel" as the alternative for the blessing.
You may ask:"Why the ashes?" The ashes symbolize Adam and Eves' first sin, and they also mean that one day our earthly bodies will become dust, while hopefully our souls will go to heaven. Catholics and Christians alike have been doing this since at least the 11th century.
On Ash Wednesday, we also fast and abstain from eating meat. We are required in the Catholic Church to fast by having no more than one normal sized meal and two small meals that do not add up to a normal meal. (There are exceptions for young children, the elderly, pregnant women, and so on). This is to symbolize Jesus fasting in the desert for 40 days (the duration of Lent).
A cool fun fact is that usually the palms from Palm Sunday the previous year are saved and burned, and those are usually the ashes used on Ash Wednesday.
A side tangent concerning this...When we were in Belize, Fr. Scott and Carson decided it would be fine to burn the palms from the previous Palm Sunday. In a five-gallon bucket. On the front lawn of the Montessori school playground. The product was a melted bucket, a cool flame, a burnt spot on the lawn, a terrible smell, and a couple teaspoons of ashes (see pictures). But, luckily, we were able to get more palms from a different church, which were made (safely) into ashes.
Well, I hope that you enjoyed this blog post and that you have a prayerful Lenten season! I also hope that you all have a very fat Tuesday. I encourage you to get ashes at a Catholic Church near you (you are welcome to come to our church, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, if you are local).
God Bless!
Cameron
Here's a present for reading this post
For our dear friends in Louisiana
