Ash Wednesday

Back in the day, public sinners or people who were guilty of serious sin under the rubric of serious immoral misdemeanours were invited to come back into the fold of the Church on Ash Wednesday. The sinners were marked with the sign of the cross on the forehead. They were also given a shirt made of animal hair to wear for the duration of Lent and were forbidden to enter the Church (the building) until Holy Tuesday, i.e., the Tuesday of Holy Week, immediately preceding Easter Sunday.

From Ash Wednesday to Holy Tuesday, the sinners were given a penance to do, which may have taken the form of living apart from their families, often in a monastery, where they would do difficult manual labour and pray consistently, while also doing acts of charity. When this observance was complete they would then be considered worthy enough to participate in the events of Holy Week, culminating in the great feast of Easter. The idea behind the removal of the sinner from their families may be based on the Old Testament notion of ritual cleanliness, where sinners or those who had broken the Mosaic Law were explicated from their communities so that other people in the community would not be ritually defiled by the presence of the sinner among them. If one were ritually unclean in the Old Testament era, they would not have been allowed to take part in rituals of worship because they were not considered worthy enough.

Ashes, of course, has long been associated with sorrow and repentance because of its strong link with the Jewish tradition of sackcloth and ashes. The early Church attempted to remain faithful to this tradition and to preserve its orignal symbolism. Until the Reformation, many Protestant churches also employed the practice which ultimately ceased with the definitive split between the denominations.

Today, the priest, as he blesses the candidate who approaches for ashes says, "turn away from sin and believe in the Gospel", a modern version of what used to be said, "Thou art dust and into dust thou shalt return".

So, enjoy your blessings with ashes and be mindful of the rich history and symbolism behind it all. You need not wear the hairy shirt though!!!!!!!