A reflection on the sacramental of ashes that we receive on Ash Wednesday: “Even the darkest moments of the liturgy are filled with joy. And Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lent fast, is a day of happiness, a Christian feast. It cannot be otherwise, as it forms part of the great Easter cycle.” (Thomas Merton) The season of holy Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, a solemn day of fast and abstinence.
The day receives its special name from the blessing and imposition of ashes in the form of a cross on our foreheads. “Remember, man, that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Cf. Gen. 3:19) Ashes, made by burning palms blessed the previous Palm Sunday, symbolize the transience of our earthly status. The body must fall temporarily into dust. This fact should serve as a challenge to spiritual accomplishments. Through grace we were “buried” in Christ that we may rise with Him and “live unto God.” We explain ashes with the “seed” idea. “They are not a sign of death,” Fr. Merton says, “ but a promise of life.”