TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — Catholics marked Ash Wednesday by attending Mass and receiving a cross of ashes on their forehead.
The ashes serve as a visible sign of repentance and are said to serve as a symbol of reconciliation with God.
“Part of reconciliation means restoring what was destroyed,” Friar Bob Showers of St. Benedict Church in Terre Haute said. “Giving back what you stole, repairing what you ruined. It’s easy if what I stole was your money. I just give you back your money, you’ve got it back. If what I destroyed was the window of your living room, it’s easy, I pay someone to fix your window. I’ve given it back. But what if what I broke was your heart? What if what I destroyed was your honor or your opinion of yourself or your feeling of belonging in this world? How do I fix that after I’ve hurt that? How do I give it back? How do I restore it, how do I return it,” Showers explained.
“Well I can’t,” Showers went on to say. “And so we do penance as a symbolic way of saying, ‘I want to restore what I ruined. I want to make the bad things I said, unsaid. I want to make the bad things I did undone. But I can’t. And to show my willingness, I take these penances on myself. Both quiet ones that I do for myself that nobody knows about and public ones like going to church or joining in prayer or putting ashes on my head.”
Friar Showers said they put ashes on the forehead because Catholics believe they come from this earth and are part of it.
“Part of restoring everything, making it whole is us getting back in touch with the earth. So we put the dust of the earth on our heads to remind us that until we become part of the earth again, and everything that happens to the earth just affects my heart and my life, then I am not whole, I’m still an outsider. The ashes then of Ash Wednesday then are an invitation to come home to the human family and from the earth to which we came,” he said.
Friar Showers says like many churches, when they put ashes on your head, they say “Remember then that you come from the earth and to earth you will return,” he said. “It’s the same words we say at a funeral because it’s part of who we are” he added.
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Lenten season. It’s a day of fasting and reflection.
Lent represents the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert. It’s an opportunity for spiritual renewal toward Easter.
