James Akin has prepared an excellent question and answer discussion on Ash Wednesday. The article by James Akin can be found on the EWTN web site here.
Ash Wednesday is the first day of the forty days of Lent. The fortieth day of Lent is Holy Saturday and is marked by the Easter Vigil Mass where catechumens are baptized. The forty days of Lent exclude the six Sundays during the Season of Lent.
Ash Wednesday began during the Tenth Century in Christianized Europe. The official name of "Ash Wednesday" is the Day of Ashes.
Ashes are placed on the forehead. A mark on the forehead is a symbol of a person's ownership. The mark of a Cross on the forehead indicates our being owned by Jesus Christ. We were claimed by Jesus Christ in our baptism when we were marked by the Sign of the Cross on our forehead. Revelation 7:3, 9:4, and 14:1 all refer to marks on the foreheads of the faithful who belong to Jesus Christ.
Ashes are a symbol of mourning and penance. We mark ourselves with ashes as a sign of repentance and mourning for our sins. In addition, we fast on Ash Wednesday as a sign of our repentance. Ashes are also a sign of our mortality. We are reminded that we were created from the dust of the Earth and that we will die and return to dust. The point is that the time for repentance is now.
Ashes are made from the burned palms from the previous year's Palm Sunday. This is a reminder that we must not only rejoice in the arrival of Jesus Christ but that we must repent of our sins which were the cause of our Lord's death on the Cross. Akin reminds us that Jesus died for us so that we might not be condemned to Hell.
Ash Wednesday is not a holy day of obligation. No one is obligated to receive ashes. However, it is an important sign of one's commitment to beginning the penitential period of Lent. The Church has established holy days of obligation for commemoration and celebration of important events. However, there has never been a holy day of obligation dedicated to penance and repentance.
Father Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary provides the following definitions:
Repentance is voluntary sorrow for having done something wrong, together with the resolve to amend one's conduct by taking the necessary means to avoid the occasions of sin. To repent is to be sorry for sin with self-condemnation.
Penance is the virtue of disposition of heart by which one repents of one's own sins and is converted to God. Also the punishment by which one atones of sins committed, either by oneself or by others.
Mary, Mother of God, pray for us!
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