paxfly.blogg.se

He mentions that in the books of the old Law and the New Law the penitents sprinkled ash on their heads and wore sackcloth. One of the most scholarly mentions of Ash Wednesday is found in the Lives of Saints, the work of the cleric Aelfric (955-1020). The earliest mention of Ash Wednesday can be traced to the eighth century and in the earliest copies of the Gregorian Sacramentary. The ancient texts and spiritual books speak of the rubbing of ashes as a mark of penitence. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of repentance, penance and a spiritual flowering of the spirit with the aid of absolution and confession. The applying of the ashes, fasting and penance must also be accompanied by gestures of peace and solidarity with the poor and suffering and a resolve to refrain from sinning. The imposition of the ashes is hypocritical if there is no corresponding change in behavior to renounce sin and repent. On Ash Wednesday the penitent fast from food and meat, as fasting increases the resolve of a person to abstain from sin.

The penitents allow the ashes to remain till evening before washing it off.

The ashes are then sprinkled with holy water and sometimes smoked with incense. In the blessing of the ashes, four ancient prayers are invoked. The ashes are obtained by burning the palms, blessed on the Palm Sunday of the preceding year. The cross symbolizes the Crucification of Christ, and through him salvation is possible. The applying of the ashes reminds the believers of their inherent mortality and transgressions and that repentance is essential to become one with God. The officiating priest applies the ashes in the shape of a cross on the forehead or on the tonsure of the clergy, while reciting the litany ‘for dust you are and dust you shall return’. On this Ash Wednesday, a Mass or services of worship are held, wherein the faithful approach the altar to receive the application of the ashes. The season of Lent is a forty day period of abstinence and fasting which culminates in the feast of Easter. Ash Wednesday falls on the first day of Lent, on a Wednesday, after Quinquagesima Sunday. This Biblical quotation adequately captures the essence of Ash Wednesday, also known as dies cinerum, the Day of Ashes. ‘Remember O’ man you are dust and to dust you shall return’ (Genesis 3.19)