By Leon Bent –
Among the beautiful, meaningful and solemn ceremonies of the Catholic Church, is the gathering of the faithful on Ash Wednesday.
This special day begins our Lenten journey. It is the start of 40 days of prayer, penance and almsgiving as we prepare ourselves to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday. But why does Lent begin on a Wednesday, and what is the significance of ashes?
Ash Wednesday was added to the liturgical calendar, well after the 40-day penitential season of Lent became the norm throughout the Latin Church. Lent, in turn, was universally established only after the early Church sorted out the date of Easter. The issue was clarified at the famous Council of Nicaea in 325, where “all the Churches agreed that Easter, the Christian Passover, should be celebrated on the Sunday following the first full moon (14 Nisan), after the vernal equinox” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1170). The vernal (spring) equinox generally falls on March 21, thus the date of Easter in the Western Church can occur anytime between March 22 and April 25.
Lent in the Early Church
The word Lent is from an Old English term meaning springtime, and by the second century the term was being used to describe the period of individual fasting, almsgiving and prayer in preparation for Easter. Among the Christians of the first three centuries, only those aspiring for baptism — the catechumens (a convert to Christianity receiving training in doctrine and discipline before Baptism; or Confirmation) — observed a defined period of preparation, and that time lasted only two or three days. The idea of Lent being 40 days in length evolved over the next few centuries, and it is difficult to establish the precise time when it began. Among the canons issued by the Council of Nicaea, the Church leaders, in Canon Five, made reference to Lent: “and let these synods be held, the one before Lent that, the pure gift may be offered to God after all bitterness has been put away, and let the second be held in autumn.” The language of this canon seems to validate that Lent, in some fashion, had by the fourth century been established and accepted by the Church.
That Lent evolved into a period of 40 days in length, is not surprising as there are numerous biblical events that also involved 40 days. Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving instructions from God for that number of days (see Ex. 24:18); Noah and his entourage were on the Ark waiting for the rains to end for 40 days and 40 nights (Gen. 7:4); and Elijah “walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb” (1 Kgs. 19:8). Most certainly though, the 40 days of Lent identifies with the time our Lord Jesus spent in the desert fasting, praying and being tempted by the devil (Mt. 4:1-11). “By the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert” (Catechism, No. 540).
There is, therefore, evidence that by the end of the 4th century, Christians were participating in a 40-day Lent before Easter. The dilemma now was how to count the 40 days. In the Latin Church, six weeks were used to identify the Lenten period, but you didn’t fast on Sundays, so six Sundays were subtracted and there remained only 36 fasting days. In the early seventh century, St. Pope Gregory I the Great (r. 590-604) resolved this situation by adding as fast days the Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday before the first Sunday of Lent. Thus the Lenten 40-day fast, or the Great Fast as it was known, would begin on a Wednesday.
Initially, people fasted all 40 days of Lent. They ate one meal a day, and only an amount of food that would sustain survival. But the Church taught, and people believed (then as now), that fasting is not about what we eat, it is about changing hearts, interior conversion, reconciliation with God and others. It’s about living in an austere way, giving from our abundance to the poor. St. John Chrysostom (347-409) explained it this way: “Do you fast? Give me proof of it by your works! If you see a poor man, take pity on him! If you see an enemy, be reconciled to him! If you see a friend gaining honour, envy him not! If you see a beautiful woman, pass her by!”
The Church has long used ashes as an outward sign of grief, a mark of humility, mourning, penance and morality. The Old Testament is filled with stories describing the use of ashes in such a manner. Job repented before God: “Therefore, I disown what I have said, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6). Daniel “turned to the Lord God, to seek help, in prayer and petition, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes” (Dan. 9:3). Jonah preached conversion and repentance to the people of Nineveh: “When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes” (Jon 3:6). And the Maccabees army prepared for battle: “That day they fasted and wore sackcloth; they sprinkled ashes on their heads and tore their garments” (1 Mac. 3:47).
Like all those before us, we unhesitatingly embrace this invitation to sanctity, this time to turn away from sin. We are part of that great cloud of witnesses, who through all the ages have donned ashes, publicly acknowledging that we are Christians, who have sinned and seek to repent. We acknowledge that “we are dust and to dust we shall return.”
Now, this gold nugget! The season of Lent lasts for forty weekdays, from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. It is a solemn drama in which Christians are to prepare themselves, through fasting and prayer, to accompany Christ in the events of Holy Week, including his betrayal, his crucifixion, his death, and his resurrection.
And, this final flourish! Easter Sunday is the great festival of the Christian year. The women who came early to the tomb found it empty. “Alleluia, Christ is risen!” exclaims the priest or pastor. “He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!” respond the people. Easter morning is a celebration of rebirth and the renewal of life.
Leon Bent is an ex-Seminarian and studied the Liberal Arts and Humanities, and Philosophy, from St. Pius X College, Mumbai. He holds Masters Degree in English Literature and Aesthetics. He has published three Books and have 20 on the anvil. He has two extensively “Researched” Volumes to his name: Hail Full of Grace and Matrimony: The Thousand Faces of Love. He won The Examiner, Silver Pen Award, 2000 for writing on Social Issues, the clincher being a Researched Article on Gypsies in India, published in an issue of the (worldwide circulation) Vidyajyoti Journal of Theological Reflection, New Delhi. On April, 28, 2018, Leon received the Cardinal Ivan Dias Award for a research paper in Mariology.