Ash Wednesday comes from the ancient Jewish tradition of penance and fasting. The practice includes the wearing of ashes on the head. The ashes symbolize the dust from which God made us. They also symbolize grief that we have sinned and caused division from God.
As the priest applies the ashes to a person's forehead, he speaks the words: "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." Or alternatively: "Repent and believe in the Gospel." The Church moves now from green, the color of growth, to purple, the color of penance and repentance.
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Father's Blog
Rev. Fr. Christopher Tracey
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