A call to repent

Feb 28, 2025

By Fr Dr Merlin Rengith Ambrose DCL
Each year, Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent. This year, Ash Wednesday will be on March 5. Ash Wednesday centres on the Christian’s focus on repentance and prayer, typically through personal and communal confession during 40 days of fasting and penance that lead up to Easter Sunday. Christ’s faithful have the sign of the cross made on their foreheads with ashes to mark this holy day. While Ash Wednesday and Lent have been observed by Catholics and some Protestants for centuries, today, more Protestants also choose to observe the tradition.

Biblical Roots
Though Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, Lent is the older of the two. Lent was established and accepted only after the early Church sorted out how to calculate the date of Easter. At the Council of Nicaea in AD 325, “all the Churches agreed that Easter, the Christian Passover, should be celebrated on the Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox.” Since the spring equinox usually falls on Mar 21, the date of Easter can occur anytime between Mar 22 and Apr 25. Depending on when Easter is, Ash Wednesday can fall on any date from Feb 4 to Mar 11.

The Council of Nicaea established a 40-day fasting period for Lent, rooted in biblical writings. God sent rain on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights when Noah and his family went into the ark (Genesis 7:4). Moses sat atop Mount Sinai receiving instructions from God for 40 days (Exodus 24:18). Moses repented and fasted in response to the making of the Golden calf (Exodus 34:27–28). Elijah “walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb” when he flees Jezebel’s wrath (1 Kings 19:8). The 40 days of Lent, however, are primarily identified with the time Jesus spent in the desert fasting, praying, and being tempted (Matthew 4:1–11; Mark 1:12–13, and Luke 4:1–13). However, though the length of Lent was set by the council, its start date in relation to Easter was still undecided.

In 601 AD, the start date of Lent was established. Pope Gregory I (540-604) moved the beginning of Lent to 46 days before Easter and simultaneously established Ash Wednesday. This allowed for 40 days of fasting, where only one full meal and no meat is to be consumed, with six Sundays counted as feast days, when fasting does not apply, for a total of 46 days. He also established the tradition of marking Catholics’ foreheads with ashes in the shape of a cross.

Why Ashes?
The practice of marking oneself with ashes has ancient origins. In the Old Testament, ashes are used liturgically to signify mourning, mortality, and penance. In Esther 4:1, Mordecai puts on sackcloth and ashes when he hears of the decree of King Ahasuerus of Persia to kill all of the Jewish people in the Persian Empire. In Job 42:6, at the end of his confession, Job repents in sackcloth and ashes. In the city of Nineveh, after Jonah preaches of conversion and repentance, all the people proclaim a fast and put on sackcloth, and even the king covers himself with sackcloth and sits in ashes, as told in Jonah 3:5–6. The prophet Jeremiah calls for repentance by saying: “O daughter of my people, gird on sackcloth, roll in the ashes” (Jer 6:26). The prophet Daniel recounted pleading to God: “I turned to the Lord God, pleading in earnest prayer, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes” (Daniel 9:3). Just before the New Testament period, the rebels fighting for Jewish independence, the Maccabees, prepared for battle using ashes: “That day they fasted and wore sackcloth; they sprinkled ashes on their heads and tore their clothes” (1 Maccabees 3:47; 4:39). Examples of the practice among Jews are found in several other books of the Bible (Numbers 19:9, 19:17, Jonah 3:6, Esther 4:1, and Hebrews 9:13). Jesus is quoted as speaking of the practice in Matthew 11:21 and Luke 10:13: “If the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago (sitting) in sackcloth and ashes.”

In the early Catholic Church, Eusebius, a historian of the Church, wrote in his book, The History of the Church, that an apostate named Natalis once came to Pope Zephyrinus, dressed in sackcloth and ashes, begging for forgiveness. By the Middle Ages, those who were dying lay on the ground on top of sackcloth and were sprinkled with ashes. The priest would bless the dying person with holy water, saying, “Remember, man, that thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return” (Memento, homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris).

Repent and Believe in the Gospel
Ashes symbolise our sinfulness and remind us of penance. They also remind us of our mortality; one day, our bodies will return to dust. The Liturgical imposition of ashes on Ash Wednesday is a “Sacramental”, not a “Sacrament”, so they do not have to be administered by a cleric. Some churches offer take-home packets for people who cannot attend in person due to ill health. The ashes are blessed for Catholics using Holy Water or olive oil, following liturgical tradition. In the Catholic Church, ashes being a “Sacramental” may be given to anyone who wishes to receive them, as opposed to a Catholic “Sacrament”, which is reserved for Church members, except in cases of grave necessity.

In the 1969 missal of the Roman Rite, an alternative formula (based on Mark 1:15) was introduced and given first place: “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.” The older formula was translated as “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” The old formula, based on the words spoken to Adam and Eve after their sin, reminds Catholics of their sinfulness and mortality and, thus, implicitly of their need to repent in time.

In the admonition given (“Repent and believe in the Gospel”), the connection of the ashes to the Gospels, which record the life of Jesus, comes from their preparation The ashes used each year are created by burning the blessed palms from the previous year’s Palm Sunday celebration, which commemorates Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem during the week of His death. Making the sign of the cross with these ashes connects the beginning of Lent, which starts 46 days earlier, to the commencement of Holy Week, the Sunday before Easter. Today, Ash Wednesday is one of the most heavily attended non-Sunday Masses, even though it is not a holy day of obligation in the liturgical year. Worship services are also held on Ash Wednesday in Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian churches, Methodists, Moravians and some other Protestant churches, which also sometimes observe Lent. Most importantly, however, Ash Wednesday and Lent lead up to the holiest day in the Christian calendar, Easter, which commemorates the resurrection of Jesus. Ashes and fasting, drawing on several biblical traditions, create a season of penitence and expectation as Easter approaches. In this way, the Bible’s impact on our rituals and sense of sacred time becomes clear.

During Lent, the people do not sing hymns that include the phrase “Alleluia.” Alleluia is a Hebrew word that means “Praise the Lord.” During Lent, the Church adopts the same spirit of exile experienced by Moses and the Israelites as they wandered in the desert for 40 years, saying, “How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” (Psalm 137:4).

Canon Law on Fasting and Abstinence
Can. 1252 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law prescribes that “the law of abstinence binds those who have completed their fourteenth year. The law of fasting binds those who have attained their majority until the beginning of their sixtieth year. Pastors of souls and parents are to ensure that even those who, by reason of their age are not bound by the law of fasting and abstinence, are taught the true meaning of penance.” Can. 1253 stipulates that “the Conference of Bishops can determine more precisely the observance of fast and abstinence as well as substitute other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety, in whole or in part, for abstinence and fast.”

Power of Fasting
There is great wisdom in the Christian practice of fasting — even though its benefits are largely forgotten! Fasting is a spiritual exercise and, as such, is primarily an act of the inner life. Authentic fasting draws us nearer to God and opens our hearts to receive His many gifts. Fasting is also a sharp reminder that there are more important things in life than food. Authentic Christian fasting helps to release us from our attachments to the things of this world. It is often these worldly attachments that prevent us from becoming the best version of ourselves. Fasting also serves as a reminder that everything in this world is passing and thus encourages us to consider life beyond death. Go without food for several hours, and you quickly realise how truly weak, fragile, and dependent we are. This knowledge of self, strips away the arrogance and fosters a loving acknowledgement of our utter dependence on God. Ash Wednesday is a powerful day to rediscover the power of fasting in your life!

Conclusion
Repentance serves as a powerful invitation. When John the Baptist first appeared in the desert of Judea, his message was clear: “Repent, prepare the way of the Lord” (Matthew 3:2). Later, when Jesus began His ministry, He reiterated this message: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). So, what does it mean to repent today, over two thousand years later? The essence of repentance remains the same for us as it was for those who walked the dusty paths, yearning to draw closer to Jesus as He made His way through their towns and villages. To repent means “to turn back to God.” We all find ourselves in need of turning back to God numerous times throughout the day, in both minor and significant ways. Repentance is not about guilt, nor is it a source of shame; instead, it reveals the truth that we become better versions of ourselves when we take the step to return to His side!

Ash Wednesday is a wonderful opportunity to make yourself 100 per cent available to God! How available to God are you? 50 per cent? 75 per cent? 96.4 per cent? No matter what your answer is, Ash Wednesday is the perfect time to decide how you will spend this Lent increasing that number.

Fr Dr Merlin Rengith Ambrose, a priest from the diocese of Kottar is currently a professor of Canon Law at St Peter’s Pontifical Institute in Bangalore and the Executive Secretary of the Commission for Canon Law in the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India.