Marked by Ashes

On Feb. 18 ^th we begin the holy season of Lent as we are marked with Ashes. It is an odd thing that we do: come forward in solemn procession to receive a cross of burnt palms on our forehead, and then go about wearing that cross throughout our day. As kids we were told to make sure our faces were clean. On Ash Wednesday, however, we proudly wear a mark on our head. Maybe some people might even look at us kind of strange, wondering why we have dirt on our foreheads. But for us it means something. It points to something beyond our own self. As Catholics we are very much caught up in signs and symbols. They allow us to speak a language that sometimes we cannot verbally express on our own.
When we are marked with ashes words are said to us. We either hear: “Repent and believe in the Gospel” or “Remember that you are dust and unto dust you shall return.” Through these admonitions we are invited either to remember our need for continual conversion or own mortality, and that this life we live is but a pilgrimage. The ritual words we hear help to put us in touch with these realities of our faith. Our wearing of the ashes stands as a testimony to our belief in that need for ongoing conversion and our belief in the redemption Christ has brought us.
We have a few weeks before we get to Ash Wednesday, but it is never too soon to begin to think about how you will have a good and holy Lent this year. We begin our annual observance of those 40 days by taking on the cross of Christ. We go forth from church to bear that cross to the world around us. Let’s try to extend our embrace of that cross throughout Lent through the Church’s ancient practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Let us remember the need to continually turn from sin and let us always have our sights set on our true home as we prepare to enter into the Lord’s dying and rising in Holy Week.