What Is the Meaning of Ash Wednesday? From Fr. Mike Schmitz

In the Bible, when someone was covered in dust and ashes, it marked a particular moment in their lives. It marked a low point, a turning point, too. This was when they realized, “Wait a second. I cannot go on like this.” It was so serious, this low point, that they concluded, “If I continue in this way, my life is a disaster. If I continue living the way I live, my life is in ruins. I’m going to die like this.”

And that’s what the ashes are about. All of us are called to get to the place where we realize, “There’s something I need to repent of. I need to change.” The ashes signify a turning point.

For more information about the history of Lent, check out this primer!

When the priest says, “Remember that you are dust,” or “Repent and believe in the Gospel,” those words are a reminder that we are not as we should be.

St. John Paul the Great mentioned in his Theology of the Body that at the moment when the man and the woman fell after eating the fruit in the Garden of Eden, their eyes were opened. JPII called it “the entrance of shame into human existence.” Up until then, there was no shame. It says at the end of chapter 2 in Genesis that the man and woman were naked, and yet they felt no shame.

JPII said that shame has a two-fold purpose. On the one hand, Adam and Eve felt the need to cover up. There’s a sense that “There is something wrong right now,” and that’s the kind of shame that most of us experience. It’s the kind of shame that most of us feel when we have done something wrong. That’s one sense. That is the negative sense of shame.

The other sense of shame is why Adam and Eve felt the need to cover up at all. They are covering up because they realize there is something beautiful here. There is something good here that is not being honored. There is something good here that is not being loved.

This two-fold sense of shame is in line with that knowledge of needing to repent, and the priest reminds us of this when he puts the cross on our foreheads. Some people say, “I don’t even know what I would repent of.” I don’t necessarily think that is a numbness to their sin. I think that is just a sign that they have no idea how incredible they are supposed to be.

Ash Wednesday is the day when I look in my heart and say, “There is something wrong with my heart. I am not supposed to be like this. I love things I shouldn’t love, and I don’t love things I should love.”

For more information about shame, check out this video from Fr. Mike!

Ash Wednesday does not mean you are bad. It means the exact opposite. The two-fold nature of shame suggests there is something wrong, but also that there is something good. That is the reality. Ash Wednesday’s purpose is to recognize that you and I are called to be incredible.

Those ashes are not a bowl of ashes dumped over our heads. They are ashes in a particular shape.

For more information about what it means to be a good person, check out this video from Fr. Mike!

The ashes are in the shape of a cross because yes, I’m not as I should be. I have not lived the life that I should live. I have made choices I should not have. That is the ash part. The cross part is the fact that, in the midst of this, Jesus claims you as his. Even with your broken heart and your broken life, even with the bad choices you made, he claims you.

Today, as you go forward to receive those ashes on your forehead, or if you did it this morning and you have those ashes on your forehead now, when that ash-covered thumb comes forward and traces that cross on your forehead, hear this one word spoken over you by God himself:

“Mine.”

You might think, “Yeah, but I have all these things I need to repent of. My heart is not as it should be.”

Jesus says, “Yeah, but you’re mine.”

Those ashes are in the shape of a cross because it is a sign of the things I need to turn from. It is also a sign of the things I need to turn to. It is the price tag that Jesus was willing to pay to win your heart back. No, your heart is not as it should be, but it is good. And apparently, God believes that it is worth dying for.

For more information about Jesus’ death, check out this podcast from Dr. Sri!

When you wear these ashes and someone says, “Why do you have dirt on your forehead?” or “What do you think, you’re holier than the rest of us?” I invite you to respond:

“No, the answer is this: The ashes mean I’m a sinner, but the cross means that I have a Savior. The ashes mean I am not who I should be, but the cross means there is a God who believes so fully in me that he is making me right now into the person that he believes I can be.”

For more information about transformation, check out this podcast from Fr. Mike!