Catholics, what is the significance of lent and the ashes?

Question

I'm new at this and would very much like to know more about this.

Answer 1

The significance of lent and the ashes is to show that the Catholic Church is Anti Christ. This doctrines of Catholic is can not be found in the bible. How ever we can read in the bible this verses: Rev 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
Rev 13:17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Answer 2

The ashes placed on the forehead on Ash Wednesday are a sign of penance. It is basically a public acknowledgement that the one with the ashes is a sinner. Since we are all sinners, pretty much most Catholics attend Ash Wednesday. Interestingly enough, Ash Wednesday is NOT a holy day of obligation, though it is attended by more people than most weekday holy days.

In the 2nd-4th centuries, one did not have ashes placed only on the forehead. Back then, the entire body was covered in ashes, really making a public spectacle and a much more pentinent act. Fewer people did then as well (for obvious reasons).

If you are a new Catholic, then welcome! I became a Catholic over 20 years ago when I concluded that the Catholic Church truly is the one and only Christian Church, dating back to the time of Christ himself. All other denominations are offshoots of the Catholic Church having split for one reason or another, mostly only within the past 500 years.

May the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you!

Answer 3

Ash Wednesday liturgies are some of the best attended in the entire year.
Ashes are an ancient symbol of repentance (sackcloth and ashes). They also remind us of our mortality ("remember that you are dust") and thus of the day when we will stand before God and be judged. This can be linked easily to the death and resurrection motif of Baptism. To prepare well for the day we die, we must die now to sin and rise to new life in Christ. Being marked with ashes at the beginning of Lent indicates our recognition of the need for deeper conversion of our lives during this season of renewal.

Answer 4

I don't know. I'm religious, but I take Lent more as a personal goals test, more than religious reasons. Like right now I'm giving up soda pop for 40 days.

Answer 5

Lent is a penitential season, and ashes are a sign of penance:

"Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes." -- Matthew 11:20-21

Answer 6

+ Ashes in the Bible +

"O daughter of my people, gird on sackcloth, roll in the ashes." (Jeremiah 6:26)

"I turned to the Lord God, pleading in earnest prayer, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes." (Daniel 9:3)

"When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in the ashes." (Jonah 3:6)

"And all the Israelite men, women and children who lived in Jerusalem prostrated themselves in front of the temple building, with ashes strewn on their heads, displaying their sackcloth covering before the Lord." (Judith 4:11; see also 4:15 and 9:1)

"That day they fasted and wore sackcloth; they sprinkled ashes on their heads and tore their clothes." (1 Maccabees 3:47; see also 4:39)

Jesus refers to the use of sackcloth and ashes as signs of repentance: "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes." (Matthew 11:21, Luke 10:13)

+ Ash Wednesday +

As the beginning of Lent, Ash Wednesday calls us to the conversion journey that marks the season.

As those preparing to join the Church enter the final stage of their preparation for the Easter sacraments, we are all called to walk with them so that we will be prepared to renew our baptismal promises when Easter arrives.

When we receive ashes on our foreheads, we remember:
+ Who we are
+ That we are creatures of the earth
. "Remember that you are dust"
+ That we are mortal beings
. "and to dust you will return"
+ That we are baptized
+ That we are people on a journey of conversion
. "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel"
+ That we are members of the body of Christ
+ That smudge on our foreheads will proclaim that identity to others, too

http://www.americancatholic.org/Newsletters/CU/ac0204.asp

+ Lent +

The Catholic Church and many other Christians Churches follow the Biblical practice of Jesus Christ and the Jews in setting aside days where the entire Church fasts and prays as one in a attitude of constant renewal.

By the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert and in spiritual preparation for the celebration of His Passion, Death, and Resurrection.

This season of penance is an intense moments of the Church's penitential practice and are particularly appropriate for spiritual exercises, penitential liturgies, pilgrimages as signs of penance, voluntary self-denial such as fasting and almsgiving, and charitable and missionary works.

With love in Christ.