You are but dust, and to dust you will return.

     Today is Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent. On this day, ashes are placed on the forehead while the words "You are but dust, and to dust you will return," or "Repent and believe in the gospel." The faithful are required to fast if between the ages of 18 and 60. They also abstain from meat. But why is this? What is so special about Ash Wednesday?

    To start, Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent, the period preparing for the death and resurrection of Christ. Lent is about 40 days long because of the time Jesus spent fasting in the desert while preparing for his public ministry. Already we come across fasting.

    Why do we use ashes today? Ashes are a sign of repentance. Take the book of Jonah, for example.

And the men of Nineveh believed in God: and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least. And the word came to the king of Nineveh; and he rose up out of his throne, and cast away his robe from him, and was clothed with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. (Jonah 3:5-6)

    Not only do we see ashes being used as a sign of repentance, but we encounter fasting also. And Lent is a solemn time of self-denial (repentance) and putting our lives in order, focusing more on spiritual than temporal matters, hence the fasting and giving up of things. The ashes also remind us of our mortality, "You are but dust, and to dust you will return."

    Again, we don't eat meat as an act of repentance. It helps us reflect on the life of Jesus, who lived a simple life. Everything in Lent is done for the purpose of repentance, because when we reach Good Friday we encounter the story of the death of Christ to save us from our sins.

    I hope that this post is helpful, and I hope y'all have a nice, penitential Lent. Thank you for reading.


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