Ash Monday
“Remember, O man, that your body is from dust and to dust it shall return, but your soul is from God and to God it shall return.”
The first day of Great Lent is called Ash Monday (in the Maronite Church). On this day the rite of blessing the ashes takes place, and foreheads are marked with ashes as a sign of acknowledging our sins, an act of humility and a sign of faith: we acknowledge that we are weak creatures made of dust and returning to dust, and at the same time that these weak creatures are called to become the image of God, to pass from dust to light.
The ashes come from the olive branches of the previous year’s Palm Sunday: they are burned on the Sunday before Ash Monday until they become ash, mixed with holy water, and then placed on the altar on the morning of Ash Monday, where the priest blesses them with a special prayer rite.
Ashes are the visible sign of repentance, confession and pleading for mercy.
In this blessed season we are all called to fasting, prayer, repentance and returning to God.
We are all called to empty ourselves of sin and be filled with the Word of God.
“Fasting means cutting ourselves off from the word of the world to devote ourselves to the Word of God.” Fasting also means going without human bread to devote ourselves to the bread of heaven.
Help us, Lord, in this blessed season to master our weak body and give up our earthly desires, so that our spirit may rise and grow stronger, closer to you and closer to those around us. Help us through our fasting to feel with the sick, the grieving, the weak and the persecuted.
Have a blessed Lent!
