Ash Wednesday: The Start of The Lenten Season

I just remind everyone that today is Ash Wednesday and officially starts the Lenten Season for Christians.  :99: During Ash Wednesday, the Roman Catholics are required to hear mass and the priests puts ashes to the people’s forehead. It signifies that we were made from ash and soon we will be an ash. I tried to research more about Ash Wednesday.

Ash Wednesday, in the calendar of Western Christianity, is the first day of Lent and occurs 46 days before Easter. It is amoveable fast, falling on a different date each year because it is dependent on the date of Easter. It can occur as early as February 4 or as late as March 10.

According to the canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke,Jesus spent 40 days fasting in the desert before the beginning of his public ministry, during which he endured temptation by Satan. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of this 40-day liturgical period of prayer and fasting.

Ash Wednesday derives its name from the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of adherents as a sign of mourning andrepentance to God. The ashes used are typically gathered after the palms from the previous year’s Palm Sunday are burned.

This practice is common in much of Christendom, being celebrated by Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists,Presbyterians, and some Baptist denominations.

Read  more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ash_Wednesday

I was serving in a church organization before and I know that Ash Wednesday is one of the important events in the church. Instead of the usual 2 masses on weekdays, the schedule of masses are like the Sunday masses.  :67: For Filipinos, this kind of event is not neglected since most of the population here are Christians. You would really see people with ashes on their forehead and they are not ashamed of it. But most of them don’t really know the significance of this event. I hope with this short article I was able to help you learn more about Ash Wednesday. Don’t forget  to hear mass today.  :69: