American Catholics will begin Lent a little differently this year by having blessed ashes sprinkled over our heads rather than placed on our foreheads in the form of a cross. The sprinkling of ashes on the crown of the head is a very old tradition still followed in Rome, though rarely in the United States. An instruction from the Vatican on how to safely celebrate Ash Wednesday in the midst of the pandemic has introduced many Catholics to this practice for the first time.
But why do we put ashes on our heads at all? To those of us used to having ashes visibly imposed on our foreheads, the practice may even seem incongruous with Jesus’ instruction to “anoint your head and wash your face” when fasting (Mt 6:16). How did this practice begin?
Ashes have been used in the Church to mark the beginning of Lent from an early date. In the late 10th century, the Anglo-Saxon Abbot Aelfric observed that at the beginning of Lent we “strew ashes upon our heads to signify that we ought to repent of our sins.” To encourage the practice, he even recounts the tale of a man who neglected to receive ashes in church on Ash Wednesday and was subsequently killed during a boar hunt (a fate somewhat less likely today). As early as the 8th century, the Church’s liturgical books called the first day of Lent “dies cinerum” (“day of ashes”).
But the association of ashes with penance is even older. In the oldest book of the Bible, the book of Job, we read of Job repenting “in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6). In the book of Esther, the prophet Mordecai “put on sackcloth and ashes” when he learned of King Ahasuerus’ decree to kill all the Jewish people in the Persian Empire. A generation later, the prophet Daniel turned to God in prayer “with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes” (Dan 9:3). When Jonah called for Nineveh to repent, the king of the city “covered himself in sackcloth and sat in ashes” (Jon 3:6). Throughout the Old Testament we find ashes being used by the Jewish people in conjunction with acts of severe or public penance.
In the New Testament, Jesus also makes reference to repenting in sackcloth and ashes (Mt 11:21), so it’s no surprise that this tradition continued into the Christian era. Early Christian writers such as Tertullian (2nd century) and Eusebius (4th century) mention penitents putting on “sackcloth and ashes” in association with sacramental confession. In the days of public penance, ashes served as a visible sign that one was repenting from their sins. Since Lent is a season of penance for the entire Church, it makes sense that the entire Church would be encouraged to begin the season by repenting in ashes communally.
It is clear that ashes have a long association with penance. But we still haven’t answered the question: Why?
First, we must have a correct understanding of penance. Penance is not punishment for our sins. Penance is meant to be medicinal. The words penance and repentance are related. To repent is to turn away from sin and toward God. Penance is anything that helps us to do that. Some penances involve self-denial, such as fasting. But time spent in prayer or performing works of mercy can also be penitential. Think of the three pillars of Lent: prayer, fasting and almsgiving. These are all forms of penance because they each help us reorient our lives away from sin and back to God.
So how do ashes help us turn toward God? They do so in a couple of ways. As the blessed ashes are imposed upon our heads, the minister says,
“Remember you are dust and to dust you will return.” Ashes are a reminder of our own mortality. There is nothing quite as sobering as reflecting upon one’s own death. Death comes to us all. None of us is guaranteed tomorrow. Are we prepared to stand before our Judge and give an account of our lives? There is no time like today for making a good confession and getting right with the Lord.
Ashes remind us of our end, but they also remind us of our origin. “The Lord God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being” (Gen 2:7). In Hebrew, “adam” means “man” and “adama” means “clay.” This bit of Biblical word-play reminds us just how close we are to the dirt from which we were made. The only reason we are living human beings and not lumps of clay is because God breathes His life into us. As the psalmist prays, “When you take away their breath, they perish and return to the dust from which they came. When you send forth your breath, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth” (Ps 104:29b-30). Ashes serve as a reminder of our utter dependence upon God. They remind us to be humble (from the Latin word “humus,” which means “ground” or “dirt”).
Even if you are not able to receive ashes at all this year due to COVID-19 concerns, it’s good to know that the important thing is the invitation the ashes convey to make an inward turn toward God. That’s an invitation we can always accept. Just maybe avoid boar hunts for a while.
Deacon Matthew Newsome is the Catholic campus minister at Western Carolina University and the regional faith formation coordinator for the Smoky Mountain Vicariate.