What is Ash Wednesday?

In the Ash Wednesday gospel the reading of Jesus tells us to clean up: "Put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting cannot be seen by others" (Matthew 6: 17–18a). Yet shortly after hearing these words, we line up to receive ashes on the forehead, a sign associated with penance and fasting. Clearly the Ash Wednesday ritual does not come from the gospel.

Lent didn't always start on Ash Wednesday. In the sixth century, Gregory the Great identified the season of Lent (Quadragesima, or "Forty Days") as the beginning of a Sunday and up to Easter Sunday.

The Bible recounts 40 days of rain during the flood, Israel's 40-year journey through the desert, Jesus' 40-day fast in the desert, and the 40-day period of post-resurrection training that Jesus gave his disciples before the his ascension. At the end of each of these 40 scriptures, the things involved have changed: a sinful world is reconstituted, slaves become free, a carpenter begins a messianic ministry and frightening followers are ready to become Spirit-preachers. Lent and his 40-day fast gave the church the same opportunity for transformation.

Since fasting was not allowed on Sundays, the original 40-day season consisted of 36 days of fasting. Eventually, it was extended to include 40 pre-Easter days of fasting, with the addition of four pre-quadragesimal fasting days, starting on the Wednesday before Lent.

Eventually, that fast extended to include a total of nine weeks (Septuagesima). However, the 40th day of fasting - a Wednesday - held significance, largely due to the Scriptural significance of that number.

Ashes were added to this Wednesday liturgy in the eighth and ninth centuries to help ritualize the transformation that occurs during Lent. Believers received ashes on their foreheads to remind them of their fundamental identity: "Remember, you are dust and to dust you will return." After being dressed in a hair shirt, they were sent out of the church: "You are cast out of the womb of the holy mother church because of your sin, while Adam was expelled from Heaven because of his sin." Expulsion, however, is not the end. So, as now, reconciliation awaits believers through Christ.

In its origins, Ash Wednesday was fundamentally oriented towards penance, which was also the focus of Lent at that time. Lent is understood differently today: its main focus is now, as in its origins, baptism. Since baptisms in Rome occurred mainly at Easter, the Lenten fast is a pre-baptismal fast, a means by which those who convert could better understand how much they rely on God and how often the activities of this world distract from love of God.

Ash Wednesday can help put us on that path by asking us to consider two fundamental questions: who we really are and where, with God's help, we are ultimately going.