Today is Ash Wednesday.
Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, a forty-day season of penitence and preparation for the celebration of Christ’s passion and resurrection. Its name comes from the ancient custom of placing blessed ashes on the foreheads of the faithful, often in the shape of a cross, as a sign of repentance and a reminder of human mortality—“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” The ashes, typically made from the burned palms of the previous year’s Palm Sunday, symbolize both sorrow for sin and the hope of renewal in God’s mercy. The Book of Common Prayer names Ash Wednesday as one of the Proper Liturgies for Special Days, observed as a day of fasting and self-examination. In the liturgy, the faithful are invited “to the observance of a holy Lent” through prayer, repentance, self-denial, and reflection on God’s Word. The day stands as both a solemn call to humility and an opening door to grace—the beginning of a spiritual journey toward forgiveness, restoration, and resurrection life. #Episcopal
