What it is:
Ash Wednesday is the first day of the forty day period known as Lent. Lent is a season of reflection, penance, and fasting preceding Easter. On Ash Wednesday, Catholics receive ashes on their foreheads as a reminder of the brevity of life, to encourage humility, and as a sign of penance. The ashes are made from burning the blessed palm branches that are left over from Palm Sunday of the prior year. The ashes are sanctified with holy water and scented with incense. On Ash Wednesday, before the beginning of Mass, the faithful come forward to the altar where the priest dips his thumb into the ashes, and makes the sign of the cross on the forehead. The priest says the words, "Remember, man you are dust and to dust you shall return." The ashes are a reminder for the faithful to again convert their hearts to the Lord.
There are forty-six days from Ash Wednesday up to and including the day before Easter. Of these days, there are forty non-Sundays and six Sundays. The fast period of Lent is made up of the forty non-Sundays. Catholics are encouraged to refrain (fast) from a pleasurable activity, such as eating candy, during these forty fast days. Sundays are technically not fast days, although many choose to fast on these days also.
On Good Friday Catholics are required to fast from all food, being allowed to eat only one meal. On Ash Wednesday, and on all Fridays during Lent, Catholics in the United States are required to abstain from meat. Failure to do so is a serious sin.
How it came about:
The use of ashes is often described in the Old Testament as a symbol of mourning and repentance. God instructed Jonah to cry out against the people of Nineveh, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh will be overthrown" (Jon. 3:4), whereupon the King of Nineveh covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. In the New Testament, Jesus pronounces a woe against Chorazin and Bethsaida, declaring that Tyre and Sidon would have repented in sackcloth and ashes had they witnessed His miracles (Mt. 11:21).
In the third century, public penance was often required for serious sin, with the penitents being sprinkled on the head with ashes by the priest after confession. The sinner was told to leave the church and do penance, making satisfaction for their sin (which could take several years). The sinner would be received back into the Church the following Maundy Thursday (three days before Easter). In the eighth century, the priest would bless a dying person with holy water, saying "Remember that thou art dust and to dust thou shalt return." The ritual for the use of ashes is found in the earliest editions of the Gregorian Sacramentary, dating back to the eighth century.
The practice of Lent and the determination of its duration developed over time. In fifth century Rome, Lent lasted six weeks, including Sundays. However, there were only three actual weeks of fasting. At the time of Pope Gregory the Great (590-604), the practice was to fast for six weeks of six days, apparently as an approximation of a tithe of a year. Some time later, it was desired to have forty days of fasting, so as to imitate the biblical forty days of fasting by Moses and Jesus. The abstaining from meat during Lent originally included eggs, milk, and butter as well, but dispensations were made in exchange for contributions toward pious works. In Germany, these dispensations were called "Butterbriefe," and several churches were partly built as a result of such donations. One cathedral had a steeple that was formerly known as the "butter tower" for this reason. The prohibition of eggs during Lent led to a tradition of making gifts of eggs at Easter.
Why it is wrong:
1) ...because of Ash Wednesday’s origin relating to public penance for the satisfaction of sin; this denies that God’s justice has been satisfied in His Son.
2) ...because of the idea that penance, a work of man, can atone for sin;
3) ...because Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, reproves those who make a public display of religiosity.
4) ...because a reminder of our mortality should be joyous for those in Christ. Death has been conquered by Jesus, and thus our toil is not in vain.
Warnings from Scripture:
"As a result of the anguish of His [Christ’s] soul, He [God the Father] will see it and be satisfied... He [Christ] will bear their iniquities." Is. 53:11
"But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face so that you may not be seen fasting by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you." Matt. 6:17-18
"But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? You observe days and months and seasons and years." Gal. 4:9-10
"O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord." 1 Cor. 15:55-56
