What Is Ash Wednesday? Why and
How Christians Celebrate It
Each year, Ash Wednesday marks
the beginning of Lent and is always 46 days before Easter Sunday. Lent is a
40-day season (not counting Sundays) marked by repentance, fasting, reflection,
and ultimately celebration. The 40-day period represents Christ’s time of
temptation in the wilderness, where he fasted and where Satan tempted him. Lent
asks believers to set aside a time each year for similar fasting, marking an
intentional season of focus on Christ’s life, ministry, sacrifice, and
resurrection. The 40-day period represents Christ’s time of temptation in the
wilderness, where he fasted and where Satan tempted him. Lent asks believers to
set aside a time each year for similar fasting, marking an intentional season
of focus on Christ’s life, ministry, sacrifice, and resurrection.
Who Celebrates Ash Wednesday? Have
you ever noticed how once a year, usually in February or March, there are a lot
of people walking around with an ash cross on their foreheads? You probably
knew it had something to do with Lent, but you weren’t sure why the ash cross
was significant. Or maybe, you grew up in a Catholic or Protestant
church that held Ash Wednesday services each year, so you’re already familiar
with the service but aren’t too sure about the history of Ash Wednesday and
Lent and what they have to do with the Christian faith. Read on if you want to
learn more about this important day in the liturgical calendar and why so many
celebrate Ash Wednesday and Lent! The observance of Ash Wednesday is
most common in the Western Christian tradition, including Roman Catholicism,
Anglicanism, and some Protestant denominations. Often called the Day of Ashes,
Ash Wednesday starts Lent by focusing the Christian’s heart on repentance and
prayer, usually through personal and communal confession. This happens during a
unique Ash Wednesday service. While most commonly observed by Catholics, Ash
Wednesday is a Christian holy day that carries significant meaning for all
Christians as a turning of hearts towards God in repentance and prayer. The
symbolism of Ash Wednesday and Lent is remembering our mortality, need for
salvation, and the period of temptation and testing that Jesus faced in the
desert. The name "Ash Wednesday" is derived from placing ashes on
believers' foreheads in the shape of a cross often accompanied by the words
"Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return,"
emphasizing mortality and the need for repentance.
What happens on Ash Wednesday?
During Mass (for Catholics) or worship service (for Protestants), the
priest or pastor will usually share a sermon that is penitential (expressing
sorrow) and reflective in nature. The mood is solemn - many services will have
long periods of silence and worshipers will often leave the service in silence.
Usually, there is a responsive passage of Scripture, usually centered
around confession, read aloud about the leader and congregation. Attendees will
experience communal confession, as well as moments where they are prompted to
silently confess sins and pray. After all of this, the congregation will
be invited to receive the ashes on their foreheads. Usually, as the priest or
pastor will dip his finger into the ashes, spread them in a cross pattern on
the forehead, and say, “From dust you came and from dust you will return.”
Where do the Ashes Come from,
and What do Ashes Symbolize? In many congregations, the ashes are prepared
by burning palm branches from the previous Palm Sunday. On Palm Sunday,
churches bless and hand out palm branches to attendees, referencing the
Gospels’ account of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, when onlookers lay
palm branches on his path. The ashes that are wore on the forehead on
Ash Wednesdat symbolize two main things: death and repentance. “Ashes are
equivalent to dust, and human flesh is composed of dust or clay (Genesis 2:7),
and when a human corpse decomposes, it returns to dust or ash.” “When we
come forward to receive ashes on Ash Wednesday, we are saying that we are sorry
for our sins and that we want to use the season of Lent to correct our faults,
purify our hearts, control our desires and grow in holiness so we will be
prepared to celebrate Easter with great joy” (The CatholicSpirit.com). With
this focus on our mortality and sinfulness, Christians can enter into the Lent
season solemnly while also looking forward in greater anticipation and joy to
the message of Easter and Christ’s ultimate victory over sin and death.
When is Ash Wednesday in 2025?
March 5, 2025
The History of Lent and Ash
Wednesday The history and beginnings of Lent aren’t clear. The term "Lent" comes from the
Middle English word “lente,” meaning springtime, signaling the arrival of
spring. According to Britannica.com, Lent has likely been observed: “since
apostolic times, though the practice was not formalized until the First Council
of Nicaea in 325 CE.” Christian scholars note that Lent became more regularized
after the legalization of Christianity in A.D. 313. St. Irenaeus, Pope St.
Victor I, and St. Athanasius all seem to have written about Lent during their
ministries. Most agree that “by the end of the fourth century, the 40-day
period of Easter preparation known as Lent existed, and that prayer and fasting
constituted its primary spiritual exercises.”
What is Fasting and What are
You Not Allowed to Eat on Ash Wednesday? Regarding the exact rules and
practices of Lent, those have changed over the years. “In the early centuries,
fasting rules were strict, as they still are in Eastern churches,” notes
Britannica.com. “One meal a day was allowed in the evening, and meat, fish,
eggs, and butter were forbidden. The Eastern church also restricts the use of
wine, oil, and dairy products. In the West, these fasting rules have gradually
been relaxed. The strict law of fasting among Roman Catholics was dispensed
with during World War II, and only Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are now kept
as Lenten fast days.” Generally speaking, fasting on Ash Wednesday
involves abstaining from meat and, for adults between the ages of 18 and 59,
limiting meals to one full meal and two smaller meals that together do not
equal a full meal.
Do Catholics eat meat on Ash
Wednesday? Catholics do not eat meat on Ash Wednesday nor on the Fridays of
Lent. In place of meat, Catholics often eat fish or other non-meat alternatives
on Fridays in Lent. Abstaining from meat on Fridays commemorates Good
Friday, the day Jesus Christ was crucified.
Is Ash Wednesday only for
Catholics or Protestants? Who can participate in Ash Wednesday? Catholic,
Orthodox, and many (but not all) Protestants appreciate and observe Lent.
Though Lent is not named or observed in the Bible, as Christianity Today notes,
“the path of Lent—prayer, fasting, and generosity over a period of time—is
heavily emphasized by the authors of and characters in the Bible, including
Jesus. The Bible commands a lifestyle of worship and devotion that looks
considerably like Lent. Therefore, while the word is absent in the Bible, the
reality of Lent is woven throughout the whole of Scripture, as we have
discovered.” Anyone can celebrate and practice the observance of Ash
Wednesday and Lent. What matters is your heart and attitude toward God. Lent
can be a beautiful opportunity to reconnect and recommit to God. In his
Gospel Coalition article Evangelicals Embracing (and Rejecting) Lent, Trevin
Wax gives us an important reminder regardless of whether we personally observe
Lent: “I hardly think the church is suffering from too much fasting,”
Wax says. “But I do think the church is suffering from too much
self-righteousness (and I include myself in this indictment). Lent – being
either for or against – can become a way of climbing up on to the pedestal.”
He goes on to say, “What is more important than the practices we take on is
the heart attitude behind them. If there’s anything we should give up this time
of year, it’s our sense of superiority either to those outside the church or
those inside the church who do things differently than we do.”
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