Ash Wednesday: when is it, what is it celebrated and its meaning?

"Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return."

The imposition of ashes reminds us that our life on earth is fleeting and that our final life is in Heaven.

When is Ash Wednesday?

The Lent is a time of forty days, which begins with Ash Wednesday y ends on Holy Thursday, before the Mass in coena Domini (the Lord's Supper) with which the Easter Triduum begins. This is a time of prayer, penance and fasting. Forty days that the Church marks for the conversion of the heart.

This Christian feast has the singularity of changing its date every year. Resurrection of the Lord which is the celebration that marks the liturgical calendar.. It can take place between February 4 and March 10. It is always celebrated on Wednesday.

Meaning of Ash Wednesday

The purpose of receiving the ashes is to remind us of our origin, "Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return". With a symbolic sense of death, expiration, humility and penitence, the ashes help us to look inside ourselves.

This look at one's interiority, of recognizing one's mistakes and wanting to rectify them, enters into the dynamics of the two key words of Lent. By recognizing our sins, we regret and wanting to change them, we become.

It is a day of light in the life of the Christian that allows us to recognize that we are weak and that we need the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus to be able to live with Him in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Why do they impose ashes on us?

In the Church this tradition has lasted since the ninth century and exists to remind us that, at the end of our life, we will take with us only what we have done for God and for others.

On Ash Wednesday, the priest traces the sign of the cross with ashes on our forehead to symbolize penitence and repentance, while repeating the words of imposition of ashes that are inspired by the Holy Scriptures:

• "Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return." Genesis, 3, 19
• "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent ye, and believe the gospel." Mark 1,15

These words serve to remind us that our final place is in Heaven. Their purpose is to immerse us more intensely in the paschal mystery of Jesus, in his death and resurrection, through participation in the Eucharist and in the life of charity.

The ashes are the remains of what has been consumed, of the branches blessed on the Sunday of the Passion of the Lord, of the previous year. A sign that reminds us of our closeness to sin.

One can also look at oneself in the fire that has produced those ashes. That fire is divine love and the Lentarises, like that fire that burns under the ashes: this is a reminder of God's presence in our lives.is the realization that God, through Christ, makes himself poor for the enrichment of our life through his poverty.

A time of preparation and purification of the heart begins. A path to reach the goal of being replete with the love of God.

What is celebrated on Ash Wednesday?

Ash WednesdayIt is a feast of repentance, of penance, but above all of conversion. It is the beginning of the Lenten journey, to accompany Jesus from his desert to the day of his triumph, which is Easter Sunday..

It should be a time to reflect on our life, to understand where we are going, to analyze how our behavior is with our family and in general with all the beings that surround us.

At this time, as we reflect on our life, we must convert it from now on into a following of Jesus, deepening our understanding of His message of love and approaching the Sacrament of Reconciliation during this Lenten season.

This Reconciliation with God is integrated by Repentance, Confession of our sins, Penance and finally Conversion:

• The repentance should be sincere and it is good that it starts with the Examination of Conscience.
• The confession of our sins is expressed by the priest at the sacrament of confession.
• The penance The first thing we must do, of course, begins with the one imposed on us by the priest, but we must continue it with prayer, which is intimate communication with God, and with fasting, which represents renunciation.
• Finally, the Conversion which represents the following of Jesus. Remembering the word of Jesus, listening, reading the Gospel, meditating on it and believing in it. Transmitting his message with our actions and our words.

Fasting and abstinence on Ash Wednesdays

To live this time in the best possible way, the Church proposes three key activities, aimed at fostering spiritual growth and a certain interior mortification: prayer, abstinence and fasting. These three forms of penance demonstrate an intention to be reconciled with God, oneself and others.

Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of fasting and abstinence:

• The fasting consists of eating only one large meal a day.
• The abstinence is not to eat meat, it is obligatory from the age of 14 and fasting from the age of 18 until the age of 59.

This is a way of asking God's forgiveness for having offended Him and to tell Him that we want to change our lives to please Him always.

Making sacrifices

Whose meaning is "making things sacred", we must do them with joyfor it is for the love of God. If we do not do so, we will cause pity and compassion and lose eternal happiness. God is the one who sees our sacrifice from heaven and is the one who will reward us..

"When ye fast, appear not sad, as the hypocrites do, who disfigure their faces that men may see that they fast: verily I say unto you, they have received their reward. You when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that men may not see that you fast, but Your Father who is in secret: and Your Father who sees in secret will reward you. " Mt 6:6"

On the other hand, fasting is aimed at achieving mastery over our instincts in order to free our heart.

As Jesus said: "Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Learning to put aside that which we want to eat or drink, to give place to God in our life, is another excellent way to live Lent." Catechism of the Catholic Church 2043

The alms

The Church proposes at this time, another practice of generosity and detachment, alms. It is the voluntary renunciation of different worldly satisfactions. with the intention of pleasing God and with charity towards our neighbor. Knowing how to put aside to put the neighbor above the material things, restores the natural order to our interior.

Prayer for Ash Wednesday

The prayer with an open heart is the best way to prepare for Easter.. Prayer sincerely opens our heart to the presence of the Father. It allows us to recognize the littleness of our being and to understand the need for God in our own existence.

Constant dialogue with God, conscious meditation on his word, is the personal relationship that every Christian should aspire to. It is becoming stronger, the fruit of that relationship that is established in speaking with Him.

The prayer is the valve that oxygenates the soul. It is the encounter with the unconditional love that is Christ.

We are the mud of sin but the dust of ashes invites us to convert and believe in the Gospel, putting everything in the hands of the Lord and not in our own hands because only He is the one who frees us from death and the corruption of our life.