From Chocolate to Ashes
“Hey, hey you, did you know that you have some dirt on your forehead?” Next week, more than any other day of the year, many Christians around the world will be outwardly marked for Christ with ashes, not dirt or Valentine’s chocolate, upon their forehead. But where does this devotion of Ash Wednesday come from? Throughout the Old Testament, particularly with Jonah, Job, and Daniel, and then into Christianity with Jesus Himself, ashes have long been a sign of penance and mortality; the sobering truth that you are going to die, that I am going to die... Happy Valentine’s Day. But what may seem like something morbid, is actually a gift, a gift to remind us of this inevitable reality, that yes, this world is passing and that “we are dust, and to dust we shall return.”
After Jesus ascended to the Father, the early Church continued to use ashes for the same symbolic reasons of penance and mortality. Tertullian (c. 160-220) prescribed that the penitent must “live without joy in the roughness of sackcloth and the squalor of ashes.” Eusebius (260-340), the famous early Church historian, recounted how an apostate named Natalis came to Pope Zephyrinus clothed in sackcloth and ashes begging forgiveness. Also, during this time, for those who were required to do public penance, the priest sprinkled ashes on the head of the person leaving confession. By the eighth century, those who were about to die were laid on the ground on top of sackcloth sprinkled with ashes. The priest would bless the dying person with holy water, saying, “Remember that thou art dust and to dust thou shalt return.” Eventually, the use of ashes sprinkled on the head or marked on the forehead was adapted to mark the beginning of Lent, the 40day preparation period (not including Sundays) for Easter. (Source: Catholic Answers.)
But the ash is not just a smudge on our forehead, but the hope is that there is somewhat of a resemblance of a cross. For it is the cross that prevents us from falling into despair when we hear about our mortality. The cross shows us that death does not have the final answer, the cross and the resurrection of Easter frees us from the torments of death. Not for the cross alone, but because who was on the cross. Jesus is the answer, Jesus is the one who saves. And as followers of Jesus, though it sounds nice and neat, we cannot skip over the cross to Easter Sunday. Jesus commands his disciples to pick up their cross and follow Him or we could say to pick up love and follow Him.
And this season of 40 days of Lent reminds us that our soul is on a journey into eternity. Just like the journey of the 40 years that the Israelites wandered in the desert on their way to the Promised Land; the 40 days that Jesus spent in the desert preparing for his public ministry, our lives and this 40 days of Lent should be about going from one place to another – a spiritual journey.
So this penitential season of Lent which traditionally includes alms-giving, fasting, and prayer is given to us as a gift to remind us to prepare our lives for that day when our journey in this life ends and the one in the next life begins. But that journey doesn’t start on our death bed, it begins now as St. Paul reminds us, “behold, now is the day of salvation.”
Jesus and His bride, the Church, want to help you take a step on this journey. No matter where you are on the journey, take a step ... a step away from sin, a step away from darkness, a step towards love, a step towards life, a step towards Christ, a step towards Heaven. The Valentine’s chocolate will soon fade to ashes and Jesus is inviting all people to a journey of the cross; a journey that He promises will end with an Easter resurrection.