Today the season of Lent begins with the observance of Ash Wednesday in the Catholic Church and many other traditional Christian denominations.
Lent lasts for six and a half weeks and during that time the Church remembers the forty days Jesus spent in the desert fasting, praying and preparing for his ministry.
The Church now spends this forty days fasting, praying and giving alms in preparation for the most important celebration of the Christian liturgical year, EASTER.
The Lenten season is a time set aside time for reflection on Jesus Christ – his suffering and his sacrifice, his life, death, burial and resurrection
Fasting is a discipline practiced by Christians from the inception of the faith to deepen their level of intimacy with God. Through fasting Christians believe they worship God by earnestly seeking Him more than worldly pleasures.
When Christians say no to their fleshly appetites they believe their hunger for God grows, and they get to taste His presence. (James 4:8; Luke 14:18-20; Mark 4:19).
Ash Wednesday got its name from the ash placed on the forehead of believers as the season of Lent begins.
The practice is common throughout much of Christianity but is celebrated mainly by Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, and Methodists.
The use of ash to goes back to ancient time and was used to express mourning. The practice is common in the Old Testament where sprinkling oneself with ash was a way of expressing sorrow for sins and faults.
The prophet Jeremiah, for example, calls for repentance this way: “O daughter of my people, gird on sackcloth, roll in the ashes” (Jeremiah 6:26).
The prophet Daniel pleaded for God to rescue Israel with sackcloth and ashes as a sign of Israel’s repentance: “I turned to the Lord God, pleading in earnest prayer, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes” (Daniel 9:3).
Perhaps the best known example of repentance in the Old Testament also involves ashes. When the prophet Jonah finally obeyed God’s command and preached in the great city of Nineveh, his preaching was amazingly effective. Word of his message was carried to the king 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 the ashes” (Jonah 3:6).
In the New Testament, Jesus also 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” (Mathew 11:21, Luke 10:13).
Ash Wednesday began appearing in Christian writings around the 8th century. In those early days the ash was sprinkled on the head of the penitent person as opposed to being anointed on the forehead, as it is done today.
Ash Wednesday, like the season of Lent, is never mentioned in Scripture and is not commanded by God. Christians are free to either observe or not observe it. It also should be obvious that the imposition of ashes, like similar external practices, are meaningless, even hypocritical, unless there is a corresponding inner repentance and change of behavior. This is made clear in Isaiah 58:5-7 when God said:
“Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes ? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter– when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?”
However, the Church recommends the observance of Ash Wednesday and Lent as a grand opportunity for repentance and spiritual renewal.
“Ash Wednesday, like the season of Lent, is never mentioned in Scripture and is not commanded by God”. Of course not!
All of these sitings of ashes and sackcloth from the Old Testament were fulfilled in the New Testament when Jesus suffered, bleed, and died on a cross for the sake of Life in sinful mankind. Jesus tells us: “ I did not come to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it”.
Ash Wednesday, Lent and all those other works of religion cannot bring us Salvation. Our salvation can only happen by our faith and the Grace of God’s Love. The apostle Paul tells us: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
By faith, we maintain a relationship with God, it is a “spiritual intimacy” our desire to walk with Him in our heart every day–it is parallel to the Love of a husband and wife– that relationship satisfies the complete works of our Salvation.
U so right couldnt have said it better..i am in de catolic too i feel the same way
Here we go again with religion taking bible verses out of context to suite them in their Evil. How do they claim that Dominica is a Christian nation and yet, they are in bed with China and their gods of wealth?
I remember when the Christian Church and preachers like Evangelist Peter Augustine, Pastor Bell and all the other pastors use to preach about the Chinese and there red dragon worship. Today they are right here with us and some of those preachers are now worshipping the Chinese gods of wealth and no one says a word. But the bible is still true. Here is Exodus 23:32-33
32 Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.
33 They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee.
But but why all this…allu plan to revel which allu bible self talk about reveling and the likes, so every year allu go through that routine like a treadmill then..i heard a poto catolic say he going and screw all man woman during carnaval..is free up time and on ash wednesday he will repent. On sunday he want to come and give me lustie..yes i well i on my way out. I can never understand allu. I tell granny i out gd thing i 18 this year i can chose. To much hypocrisy
Boy I am tired of this high level of hypocrisy. A better headline would be: The hypocrisy season has begun.