Ash Wednesday
The use of ashes as a sign of penitence and remorse is rooted in Jewish tradition. “I turned to the Lord God, pleading in earnest prayer with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.” (Daniel 9:3)
This Jew’s penitential practice carried over into the Christianity. In the early church custom dating back to the fourth century, those who had committed serious sin would present themselves to their bishop on Ash Wednesday, and he sprinkled ashes onto their hair shirts. The penitent would then spend the rest of Lent wearing the hair shirt as a public display of sinfulness.
The Ash Wednesday custom of placing ashes on the forehead became universal in the 11th century. In the 12th century, the practice began of burning the palm branches of the previous year to make the ashes.
After the 16th century Reformation, most Protestant churches did away with this custom, along with many other external practices of the Catholic Church. However, in recent decades, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist and Episcopal churches have reinstated the use of ashes as part of their liturgical renewal.
Jewish Law required fasting on only one day of the year – Yom Kippur, the last of the 10 days of penitence introducing the New Year. However, special public fasts could be called in the face of disasters, e.g. a famine. There were also private fasts. For example, some Jewish people fasted every Tuesday and Thursday.
The true purpose of fasting is not to persuade God to do something we want, or to punish ourselves for our sins.
Rather, fasting is a form of prayer – prayer in action. It helps us experience and express: · Our hunger for God · Our dependence on God (food ultimately comes from God) · Our weakness and frailty · Our willingness to change some of the patterns in our life.
Of course I hunger and thirst for God. Of course I recognize my dependence on God. And all that.
Really?
Try some fasting and see if it makes “all that” more real.