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2018 Holy Mass Readings (Cycle B, Year II):
- Entrance Antiphon (cf. Wis. 11: 24, 25, 27): You are merciful to all, O Lord, and despise nothing that You have made. You overlook people's sins, to bring them to repentance, and You spare them, for You are the Lord our God.
- First Reading: Joel 2: 12-18
- Responsorial Psalm: Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
- Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 5: 20 - 6: 2
- Verse Before the Gospel (cf. Ps. 95:8): Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory.
- Gospel: Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-18
- (Homily)
- (Blessing of Ashes)
- (Giving of Ashes)
- (Prayers of the Faithful)
- Acclamation: Save us, Savior of the world, for by Your Cross and Resurrection You have set us free.
- Communion Antiphon (cf. Ps. 1: 2-3): He who ponders the law of the Lord day and night will yield fruit in due season.
about:
- the Wednesday after Quinquagesima Sunday
- is the first day of Lent in Western Christianity
- The name dies cinerum (day of ashes) which it bears in the Roman Missal is found in the earliest existing copies of the Gregorian Sacramentary and probably dates from at least the eighth century. On this day all the faithful according to ancient custom are exhorted to approach the altar before the beginning of Mass, and there the priest, dipping his thumb into ashes previously blessed, marks the forehead — or in case of clerics upon the place of the tonsure — of each the sign of the cross, saying the words: "Remember man that thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return." The ashes used in this ceremony are made by burning the remains of the palms blessed on the Palm Sunday of the previous year. In the blessing of the ashes four prayers are used, all of them ancient. The ashes are sprinkled with holy water and fumigated with incense. The celebrant himself, be he bishop or cardinal, receives, either standing or seated, the ashes from some other priest, usually the highest in dignity of those present. In earlier ages a penitential procession often followed the rite of the distribution of the ashes, but this is not now prescribed.
- a day of fasting and abstinence
- it occurs 46 days (40 weekdays plus 6 Sundays) before Easter
- can fall as early as 4 February or as late as 10 March
- According to the canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus Christ spent 40 days fasting in the desert, where he endured temptation by Satan. Lent originated as a mirroring of this, fasting 40 days as preparation for Easter. Every Sunday was seen as a commemoration of the Sunday of Christ's resurrection and so as a feast day on which fasting was inappropriate. Accordingly, Christians fasted from Monday to Saturday (6 days) during 6 weeks and from Wednesday to Saturday (4 days) in the preceding week, thus making up the number of 40 days.
- Ash Wednesday derives its name from the practice of blessing ashes made from palm branches blessed on the previous year Palm Sunday, and placing them on the heads of participants to the accompaniment of the words "Repent, and believe in the Gospel" or "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return".
- Like Lent there is very little documentation designating Ash Wednesday’s actual origin. The practice of using ashes in the Ash Wednesday ceremony derives itself from Old Testament liturgy signifying remorse, mourning and repentance supplemented with prayer and fasting. There are numerous accounts of individuals from the bible using sackcloth (a course clothing typically worn as a sign of mourning and penitence) and ashes during times of lamentation and repentance. The record of Job (Job16:15; Job 42:6), Daniel 9:3 and Jeremiah 6:26 names a few. These Old Testament accounts are the nearest biblical support for the ashes ceremony and no where else in the bible mandates its practice.
quotes:
"Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." - Genesis 3:19
"Repent, and believe in the Gospel." - Mark 1:15
"That same day a Benjamite ran from the battle line and went to Shiloh, his clothes torn and dust on his head." - 1 Samuel 4:12 (NIV)
"On the third day a man arrived from Saul's camp, with his clothes torn and with dust on his head. When he came to David, he fell to the ground to pay him honor." - 2 Samuel 1:20 (NIV)
"Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the ornamented robe she was wearing. She put her hand on her head and went away, weeping aloud as she went." - 2 Samuel 13:19 (NIV)
"When David arrived at the summit, where people used to worship God, Hushai the Arkite was there to meet him, his robe torn and dust on his head." - 2 Samuel 15:32 (NIV)
links/ sources:
- "Ash Wednesday" (source: Catholic Encyclopedia):
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01775b.htm
- "Ash Wednesday" (source: Loyola Press):
https://www.loyolapress.com/our-catholic-faith/liturgical-year/lent/ash-wednesday
- "Ash Wednesday" (source: Wikipedia):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ash_Wednesday
- "Ash Wednesday" (source: Catholic Online):
http://www.catholic.org/lent/ashwed.php
- "The history and origin of Ash Wednesday" by Kenneth Penn (source: Examiner):
http://www.examiner.com/article/the-history-and-origin-of-ash-wednesday
- "Ash Wednesday" by James Akin (source: EWTN):
http://www.ewtn.com/library/ANSWERS/ASH_WED.htm
- "Pope on Ash Wednesday: It is never too late to return to God" (source: Vatican News):
http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-on-ash-wednesday-it-is-never-too-late-to-retu
