ASH WEDNESDAY

I had a friend of mine ask me what Ash Wednesday was all about last week. I didn't know so I did some research and this is what I found out. I got this information from the following web site: http://theholidayspot.com/ash_Wednesday/lentnote.htm

Ash Wednesday is the first day of lent( the forty day period of fasting and absinence before Easter). It is called this because you get ashes put on your forehead in the sign of the cross. Ashes are the biblical symbol for mourning and penance. They also remind of us of our mortality. Traditionally the ashes used are the made from the burning of the palm phroms from the previous years Palm Sunday service.
No one is sure exactly when this tradition was originated. It was is thought that is was sometime in the 6th century by the Roman Catholic Church. It is thought that Pope Gregory the Great(590-604) originated it. It is also know as the Day of Ashes. This comes from 'Dies Cinerth' in the roman Missal. In the Anlgo-Saxan church it was was a common practice to receive ashes on your head as a reminder of your mortality and sign of sorrow by the 10th century. Origally it was used as a private devotion, but later it became a part of the official rite for reconciling public pentitents.

Well I hope you enjoyed this and found it interesting. Just remember what we all should thinking about as the Easter approaches: what Christ did for us on the Cross. "Till next time.- THE GREAT ONE