Ash Wednesday begins today for (us) Catholics. Many will attend Mass in a Catholic Church and receive ashes on the forehead as shown on this young woman below. The ashes are obtained from burning the previous year's dried palm branches (left over from Palm Sunday and/or from parishioner's homes) and are blessed by the priest. The ashes are applied by the priest and/or a lay person with a thumb dipped in the container of ashes while saying one of three prayers:
1) Remember, O man, that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return. (Genesis 3:19)
2) Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel. (Mark 1:15)
3) Repent, and hear the good news.
Usually a perfect cross is not the final result as shown here. More like a black smudge. Brave individuals will wear the ashes the entire day at their place of business or school as a sign of humility and sacrifice at the start of the 40 day Lenten period. In former years, the practice was so common that few questions would be asked of the ash wearer. Today, the wearer would receive a few strange looks and possibly lots of questions.
A young woman with a cross of ashes applied to her forehead
[Photo by Jennifer Balaska, on Ash Wednesday 2/25/09 and released into public domain via wikipedia.org ]
