Replies

Why Ashes?

The significance of ashes that are imposed on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday.

Directions

Ash Wednesday opens up this season of penitence.

"Remember, man, you are dust, and unto dust you shall return."

So says the priest as he makes the sign of cross with ashes on our foreheads. The ashes are made by burning the previous year's blessed palms. This is a vivid reminder of our mortal nature. We are bodies fashioned from dust. "Then the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being" (Gen 2:7). Our bodies were made from nothing, and will return to nothing when we die. Ashes are a symbol of this passing world, a reminder of our death.

The imposition of ashes is also a symbol of penance and sorrow for our sins. The practice of sprinkling ashes on one's head as a sign of penance was customary even in the Old Testament—in the Book of Esther, Mordecai put on sackcloth and ashes (Est 4:1); Job sat in sackcloth and ashes to repent (Job 42:6); all of Ninevah put on sackcloth and ashes to repent after Jonah's preaching (Jon 3:5-6). In early Christian centuries the imposition of ashes was only used for public sinners, but around the year 1000 A.D. popes and all faithful started to receive the ashes as a sincere and external token that we are all poor sinners.

Ashes remind us of the curse from Genesis. After Adam and Eve committed the Original Sin, God expelled them from the Garden of Eden with these words:

Cursed be the ground because of you; in toil shall you eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to you, and you shall eat the plants in the field. In the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, since out of it you were taken; for dust you are and unto dust you shall return (Gen 3:17-19).

The Church repeats these words as the cross is traced on our foreheads "Remember, man, you are dust and to dust you shall return." Thus this opens a theme that is echoed throughout Lent and then decidedly pronounced during the Easter Vigil. In the Exsultet, the Church rejoices in this Original Sin, because it brought the Redemption: "O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam, which gained for us so great a Redeemer!"

The liturgy of Ash Wednesday gives us guidelines for our 40 day journey. We pray for blessing upon our endeavors in the opening prayer at Mass:

"Lord, protect us in our struggle against evil. As we begin the discipline of Lent, make this season holy by our self-denial."

The Old Testament reading is from the Prophet Joel 2:18. Here the message is very clear: do penance, but avoid an outward show, "Rend your hearts and not your garments." Our penance should not be mere hypocrisy. It is an interior change that is more important. Jennifer Gregory Miller Jennifer G. Miller

Why Fasting and Abstinence?

An explanation of fasting and abstinence, and the Church's attitude toward fasting and abstaining throughout the year.

Directions

The regulations of Lenten fasting and abstinence were once quite strict. Neither meat nor animal products (such as dairy and eggs) were to be eaten throughout the forty days, and only one meal per day was allowed. The restrictions were for every day of Lent, except Sundays, which were a day to relax from fasting.

We are required by Church law to observe the prescribed days of fasting and abstinence according to the fifth precept of the Church. Today, the regulations are not as prohibitive. In 1966, Pope Paul VI issued his Apostolic Constitution on Penance, Pænitemini, which states:

The time of Lent preserves its penitential character. The days of penitence to be observed under obligation throughout the Church are all Fridays and Ash Wednesday, that is to say the first days of "Grande Quaresima" (Great Lent), according to the diversity of the rite. Their substantial observance binds gravely.
[A]bstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday or, according to local practice, on the first day of 'Great Lent' and on Good Friday.
1. The law of abstinence forbids the use of meat, but not of eggs, the products of milk or condiments made of animal fat.
2. The law of fasting allows only one full meal a day, but does not prohibit taking some food in the morning and evening, observing—as far as quantity and quality are concerned—approved local custom.
To the law of abstinence those are bound who have completed their 14th year of age. To the law of fast those of the faithful are bound who have completed their 18th year and up until the beginning of their 60th year. As regards those of a lesser age, pastors of souls and parents should see to it with particular care that they are educated to a true sense of penitence.

The United States Bishops issued their document On Penance and Abstinence the same year to give the US Catholics spiritual guidelines in implementing the directives in Pænitemini:

Wherefore, we ask, urgently and prayerfully, that we, as people of God, make of the entire Lenten season a period of special penitential observance. Following the instructions of the Holy See, we declare that the obligation both to fast and to abstain from meat, an obligation observed under a more strict formality by our fathers in the faith, still binds on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. No Catholic Christian will lightly excuse himself from so hallowed an obligation on the Wednesday which solemnly opens the Lenten season and on Friday called "Good" because on that day Christ suffered in the flesh and died for our sins.
In keeping with the letter and spirit of Pope Paul's constitution Pænitemini, we preserve for our dioceses the tradition of abstinence from meat on each of the Fridays of Lent, confident that no Catholic Christian will lightly hold himself excused from this penitential practice.

The US Bishops not only reinforce the fasting and abstinence guidelines, they give recommendations on how to continue this spirit of Lent throughout the 40 days:

For all other weekdays of Lent, we strongly recommend participation in daily Mass and a self-imposed observance of fasting. In the light of grave human needs which weigh on the Christian conscience in all seasons, we urge particularly during Lent, generosity to local, national, and world programs of sharing of all things needed to translate our duty to penance into a means of implementing the right of the poor to their part in our abundance. We also recommend spiritual studies, beginning with the Scriptures as well as the traditional Lenten devotions (sermons, Stations of the Cross, and the Rosary) and all the self-denial summed up in the Christian concept of "mortification."
Let us witness to our love and imitation of Christ, by special solicitude for the sick, the poor, the underprivileged, the imprisoned, the bed-ridden, the discouraged, the stranger, the lonely, and persons of other color, nationalities of background other than our own. A catalogue of not merely suggested but required good works under these headings is provided by Our Blessed Lord himself in his description of the Last Judgment (cf. Mt 25:34-40). This salutary word of the Lord is necessary for all the year, but should be heeded with double care during Lent.

See the Personal Program section for some concrete suggestions to implement during Lent. Jennifer Gregory Miller Jennifer G. Miller