This document discusses the meaning and traditions of Ash Wednesday and receiving ashes. It explains that ashes symbolize humanity's mortality and sinfulness, and serve as a call to repentance. By receiving the ashes, Christians acknowledge their need for God's mercy and salvation. The ashes also remind believers to fast from pride and selfishness, and instead use Lent to help others through acts of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

1. Wednesday, March 9, 2011

2.  Today is Ash Wednesday. As followers of Jesus, we
enter into the season of Lent, and prepare ourselves for
Jesus’ rising from the dead to new life at Easter. Lent
lasts for forty days, or six weeks, because Jesus was
tempted by the devil in the desert for forty days. You
can read about it in Chapter 4 of Matthew’s Gospel.
 So why do we receive ashes on our
foreheads?

3.  It is a custom dating back to Old Testament times, before Jesus.
 The King of Nineveh believed the prophecy of Jonah and fasted
forty days wearing sackcloth and sitting in ashes to save the city,
and ordered the people to do so too. (Jonah 3:4-10)
 Jeremiah called Israel to “wallow in ashes” of repentance
(Jeremiah 6:26)
 Abraham says that he is unworthy to speak with God because he
is “but dust and ashes” (Genesis 2:7)
 In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus reproached the people who did not
turn from their sins in towns where he had performed miracles.
“Alas for you! If the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre
and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and
ashes.”

4.  In our time, people wear t-shirts with signs and messages.
In Old Testament times, and in the early days of
Christianity, wearing ashes on your forehead was a sign to
others. The message of the ashes was “I am aware of my
weakness and what I have done wrong”, “I am sorry for my
sins” and “I want to make peace with my neighbors, with
God”.
 The ashes imposed on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday
are a reminder of our unworthiness and sinfulness that
leads to death. Ashes remind us of our need to be cleansed
of sin and made worthy of Salvation.
 So how does this relate to our lives in the 21st Century?

5.  The ashes on our foreheads
remind us of our faults, of
the times when pride keeps
us from getting the help
that we need. What if we
used this Lent to recognize
our weaknesses, asking
God to help us grow
stronger as we work on
them? What if we fasted
from judging others and
from our selfishness?

6.  The ashes on our foreheads
remind us that our lives are
a gift from God. Who calls
us to use each day to make
a difference while we are
here on earth. What if we
found a way, each day of
Lent, to care for someone
who most needs our help,
our kindness? What if we
chose to build greater
peace and justice in our
world through our actions?
What if we gave alms
(money) to the poor?

7.  Finally, the ashes on our foreheads are a sign that we
know we are sinners who need God’s mercy. When the
early Christians saw a person wearing ashes, they
responded by praying for the person who was seeking
to reconcile with the Church and with God’s people.
What if we prayer for each other today, as we wear the
ashes, and all through the season of Lent?

8.  We cannot appreciate
God’s infinite mercy if we
do not realize that we need
mercy. We understand
salvation when we
recognize our need to be
saved or rescued from our
sin, which separates us
from God. Ashes remind
us of this need. When we
wear the ashes on our
heads, we also
acknowledge the sacrifice
of Jesus Christ, who gave
his life for our salvation.

9.  Lord Jesus Christ,
just as you were led
into the desert to
fast and pray for
forty days, we are
led by your Spirit
into this holy season
of Lent.

10.  Strengthen us, Lord,
during our Lenten
journey to Easter.
Give us the grace to
resist temptation to
grow in holiness and
to make a difference
in our world through
our prayer, fasting
and good deeds.
Amen.

11.  Narrator: A reading from the Holy Gospel according
to Matthew
 All: Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ
 Narrator: Jesus said to the disciples: “Beware of
practicing your piety before others in order to be seen
by them; for then you have no reward from your Father
in heaven. Whenever you give alms, do not sound a
trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the
synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be
praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received
their reward.

12.  But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know
what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may
be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret
will reward you.
 And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites;
for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and
at the street corners, so that they may be seen by
others. Truly I tell you, they have received their
reward.
 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the
door and pray to your Father in secret; and your Father
who sees in secret will reward you.

13.  And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the
hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show
others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have
received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on
your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may
be seen not by others but by your Father who is in
secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward
you.
 The Gospel of the Lord.
 All: Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ

14.  Teacher:
 Dear friends in Christ, let
us ask our Father to bless
these ashes which we will
use as a mark of our
repentance, our turning
away from sin. Lord, bless
the sinner who asks your
forgiveness and bless those
who receive these ashes.
May they keep this Lenten
season in preparation for
the joy of Easter.
 All: Amen.

15.  Those distributing the ashes
dip their thumb in the ashes,
then trace the sign of the
cross on the forehead of those
receiving the ashes saying:
 TURN AWAY
FROM SIN, AND
BE FAITHFUL TO
THE GOSPEL.
(Mark 1:15)
 (Instrumental music playing…)
 http://www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v=MtqeomC_0ko

16.  Together let us join in the prayer
that Jesus taught us:
 “Our Father, who art in
heaven, hallowed be thy
name. Thy kingdom
come, thy will be done, on
Earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily
bread, and forgive us our
trespasses, as we forgive
those who trespass
against us. And lead us
not into temptation, but
deliver us from evil.”

17.  God, our Father, bless our
school community. Give us
your wisdom and walk with
us on our Lenten journey.
Open our hearts to your
Word. Bless the marks on
our foreheads; may they be
a sign of fasting from sin
and feasting on good works
of love. We ask this
through Jesus, your Son,
who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit,
One God, for ever and ever,
Amen.

18. (Click the Cross to
watch video link)