Memento, homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris.(Remember, man, that thou art dust, and into dust thou shalt return.)

Ash Wednesday is an ancient Christian practice of marking the first day of Lent by marking one’s forehead with ashes. These ashes, made from the palms of last year’s Palm Sunday, serves a multi-fold purpose:

1 – it echoes the ancient Jewish tradition of putting ashes or dust on one’s head and wearing sackcloth to express grief or penitence
2 – it serves as a reminder to the wearer of his own sinfulness and need for a Savior
3 – it is an outward expression of one’s sorrow for one’s sins and desire to repent
4 – it reminds us of our own mortality and, by doing so, the passing and inconsequential nature of the things of this world and the permanence and value of the things of the next

Learn more about Ash Wednesday

Music: Emendemus in melius