Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday opens Lent, about forty days of getting ready for Easter. In Spanish it is Cuaresma, from the word for forty. At Mass the priest traces a small cross of ashes on each forehead, and says a short sentence: either to turn away from sin and believe the Gospel, or to remember that we are dust and to dust we will return. The ashes are made from the palm branches of last year’s Palm Sunday. In many Hispanic countries, many people go to church on this day to receive them.

The ashes are a sign that we want to turn back to God, which is what “conversion” means. The Church teaches that what matters most is the change inside our hearts, and that outward signs help us show it. She points to three: prayer, fasting and giving to the poor. Fasting means eating less for a while, to remember that we need God more than we need food. Grown-ups from 18 to 59 who are able fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. From the age of 14, Catholics also keep from meat on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and the Fridays of Lent. Children are not asked to fast. A child can choose gentler things: praying a little more, giving up a small treat and sharing it, doing a kind thing each day. Jesus warned us not to make a show of it. We do it quietly, for our Father who sees in secret.

Saint Ignatius of Loyola knew about turning back. He was a Basque soldier who loved glory, until a battle in 1521 shattered his leg. While he recovered, there was little to do but read, and what he had to read were books about Jesus and the saints. They changed his heart: he decided to serve God instead of chasing fame. He later founded the Jesuits and wrote the Spiritual Exercises, a guide to listening to God in daily life.

From the Exercises comes a short prayer that anyone can pray, even a child, at the end of the day. Look back over the day together with God. Thank him for the good things. Notice where we did not love well. Say sorry, and ask for his help tomorrow. Lent can be a time for that. It is not a gloomy season. A farmer prepares the ground before planting, and Lent prepares our hearts, because God never tires of forgiving, and at the end of the road is Easter.