Each year, Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent. In 2025, Ash Wednesday will be on March 5th. Ash Wednesday focuses the Christian’s heart on repentance and prayer, usually through personal and communal confession.
Each year, Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent and is always 46 days before Easter Sunday. Lent is a 40-day season (not counting Sundays) marked by repentance, fasting, reflection, and ultimately celebration. The 40-day period represents Christ’s time of temptation in the wilderness, where he fasted and where Satan tempted him. Lent asks believers to set aside a time each year for similar fasting, marking an intentional season of focus on Christ’s life, ministry, sacrifice, and resurrection.
The 40-day period represents Christ’s time of temptation in the wilderness, where he fasted and where Satan tempted him. Lent asks believers to set aside a time each year for similar fasting, marking an intentional season of focus on Christ’s life, ministry, sacrifice, and resurrection.
Have you ever noticed how once a year, usually in February or March, there are a lot of people walking around with an ash cross on their foreheads? You probably knew it had something to do with Lent, but you weren’t sure why the ash cross was significant.
Or maybe, you grew up in a Catholic or Protestant church that held Ash Wednesday services each year, so you’re already familiar with the service but aren’t too sure about the history of Ash Wednesday and Lent and what they have to do with the Christian faith. Read on if you want to learn more about this important day in the liturgical calendar and why so many celebrate Ash Wednesday and Lent!
The observance of Ash Wednesday is most common in the Western Christian tradition, including Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism, and some Protestant denominations.
Often called the Day of Ashes, Ash Wednesday starts Lent by focusing the Christian’s heart on repentance and prayer, usually through personal and communal confession. This happens during a unique Ash Wednesday service.
While most commonly observed by Catholics, Ash Wednesday is a Christian holy day that carries significant meaning for all Christians as a turning of hearts towards God in repentance and prayer. The symbolism of Ash Wednesday and Lent is remembering our mortality, need for salvation, and the period of temptation and testing that Jesus faced in the desert.
The name “Ash Wednesday” is derived from placing ashes on believers’ foreheads in the shape of a cross often accompanied by the words “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” emphasizing mortality and the need for repentance.
During Mass (for Catholics) or worship service (for Protestants), the priest or pastor will usually share a sermon that is penitential (expressing sorrow) and reflective in nature. The mood is solemn – many services will have long periods of silence and worshipers will often leave the service in silence.
Usually, there is a responsive passage of Scripture, usually centered around confession, read aloud about the leader and congregation. Attendees will experience communal confession, as well as moments where they are prompted to silently confess sins and pray.
After all of this, the congregation will be invited to receive the ashes on their foreheads. Usually, as the priest or pastor will dip his finger into the ashes, spread them in a cross pattern on the forehead, and say, “From dust you came and from dust you will return.”
