Ash Wednesday is a solemn reminder of human mortality and the need for reconciliation with God and marks the beginning of the penitential Lenten season. It is commonly observed with ashes and fasting. Together with Good Friday which marks the crucifixion of Jesus before Easter, Ash Wednesday is an obligatory day of fasting and abstinence, where only one full meal and no meat is to be consumed. Ash Wednesday is a holy day of obligation. It is traditionally one of the most heavily attended non-Sunday masses of the liturgical year.
During this period, Christians show repentance and mourning for their sins, because they believe Christ died for them. Also, on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and all Fridays during Lent, adult Catholics over the age of 14 abstain from eating meat. When priests mark Christian's forehead with the ashes they often say, “Repent and believe in the Gospel,” or “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” This special day begins our Lenten journey. But the Church taught, and people believed then as now, that fasting is not about what we eat, it is about changing hearts, internal conversion, reconciliation with God and others. It’s about living in an austere way, giving from our abundance to the poor. So when we go to that early Mass on Ash Wednesday morning and receive the blessed ashes on our forehead, we are repeating a pious act that Catholics have been undergoing for over 1,500 years.
