Lent begins with a liturgy in which the rite of the imposition of ashes stands out. But what is the meaning and origin of the ash used in this liturgical season?
Benedict XVI explained during a general audience that ash is a sign that invites Christians to penance and to intensify their commitment to conversion in order to increasingly follow the Lord.
According to Fr. Antonio Lobera y Abio, a 19th-century priest and author of the book “The reason for all the ceremonies of the Church and its mysteries”, this penance must be accompanied by repentance and pain for having offended God.
For its part, the Directory on popular piety and the liturgy include in its numeral 125 that the rite of the imposition of ashes, “far from being a purely external gesture, the Church has preserved it as a sign of the attitude of the penitent heart that each baptized is called to assume the Lenten itinerary”.
In addition, they also symbolize the mortality of men. This is clearly reflected when the priest imposes ashes on the forehead of the faithful while he says “remember that dust you are and to dust you will return”.
In the Old Testament, ashes are used to express mourning (Jeremiah 6.26), desire to obtain some favor from God (Daniel 9.3) and repentance (Judith 4.11).
The Catholic Encyclopedia explains that during Holy Thursday the first Christians placed ashes on their heads and a “penitential habit”, as a symbol of public penance.
And although Lent acquired a fully penitential character in the fourth century, it was not until the eleventh century that the rite of the imposition of ashes on Ash Wednesday was implemented.
Subsequently, the rite of the imposition of ash quickly spread throughout the Catholic Church and became an important part of Lent.
Currently, other Christian denominations (Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Orthodox) also use ash at the beginning of Lent, although their rites are different from those of the Catholic Church.
(Translated from ACI Prensa)