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Ash Wednesday
Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Season of Lent, a time of spiritual warfare, of fasting, penitence, and preparation for the Easter feast. Beginning in the tenth century ashes were imposed on this day upon penitent sinners in preparation for their restoration to full communion with the Church. Since the eleventh century, ashes have been imposed upon all the faithful as a reminder that the wages of sin is death. As God said to Adam, "dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." (Genesis 3: 19b) But as we are marked with ashes in the same manner that we were signed with the cross in our Baptisms, we are also reminded that we only have life in Christ, the second Adam.
 

"Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them; for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. "Thus, when you give alms, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

"And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by men but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Matthew 6:1-6,16-21
 

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