She wasn’t Catholic, but she was very eager to line up with all her classmates during the Ash Wednesday rites in their school chapel.
Prior to the ceremony, she gingerly approached the priest and asked, “Father, can I participate in the rite even though I’m not Catholic.”
“Of course,” was the chaplain’s reply.
“…but instead of a cross, could you make mine a heart?” she innocently pleaded.
At first, the priest didn’t know what to make of it, but then he replied he would.
The moment of the ceremony arrived when the students started filing towards the priest in order to receive the imposition of the ashes. When the girl arrived, the priest seemed to have forgotten her request and signed the cross on her forehead.
Sensing the vivid strokes of the horizontal and vertical lines on her forehead, she stood her ground and reminded the priest, “What about my heart, Father?”
Amused, the priest delicately drew a heart.
The student went back to her seat brimming with pride, showing to everyone the mark that was specially made for her: a cross encircled by a heart.
* * *
One of the strongest points of the Church’s liturgical season is Ash Wednesday! It initiates us into the season of Lent in preparation for the most important solemnity of the Church: Easter Sunday, Jesus’ Resurrection!
But Ash Wednesday is further emphasized because the faithful are required to fast (those aged 18 to 59) and abstain (those from 14 and above). These two penitential acts remind us of the importance of purification through penance, not only for our souls but our bodies as well.
Moreover, Ash Wednesday has an additional bonus: the faithful are marked with the ashes from the dried palm branches from last year’s Palm Sunday rites. The imposition of ashes has such a powerful effect on the faithful. Some are even led to think that Ash Wednesday is one of the Holy Days of Obligation in the country, when it is NOT! Others even become superstitious, fearing that erasing the ash-cross would bring some bad luck.
When did dirtying another’s forehead become something attractive or sacred? Try doing this outside of Ash Wednesday and you’ll probably get into trouble. What lesson can this attitude impart to us?
It would help by considering what the priest recites when he signs the cross on our foreheads: “Remember man, thou art dust and to dust you shall return.” In less poetic terms, what he is trying to say is that: “Dude, you’re a dead man!”
Perhaps, this idea of being marked for death is a powerful reality check for every person. This is furthermore embodied when one receives a visibly ugly stain that does not even reflect any artistic inclination on the one who painted it.
The mark seems to coldly stick upon our insensitive skin, penetrating our thick stubborn skulls and into our ungrateful soul as we reflect: “I have been marked for death because of my sinfulness!” I feel that this unique experience of death in an undying manner has a mysterious and powerful humbling effect on every person: the experience of thirsting for a change, for conversion, for God! A conversion which only God’s grace can work.
But the formula continues: “[Therefore] Repent and believe in the Gospel!” Now that the person owns the dire reality of his existence, he is reminded that the sign that was traced upon him is not any worldly symbol. It is the sign of the Cross of Christ.
With the words “Repent and believe in the Gospel!,” we are now reminded that sin and death do not have the last word in Christianity. We can now rise from the ashes of our sinfulness through repentance and hope in the saving grace of our Lord’s Gospel.
That cross delicately drawn upon us, will truly penetrate our entire existence. Our prayer, work, recreation and all our ideals will be marked with the shape of the Cross.
Even when the sign is wiped off after Ash Wednesday, we continue to engrave it deeper through sincere acts of penance –especially through confession–, alms giving and personal apostolate.
Thus, the symbol of the cross now becomes a source of light, peace and joy! It is a cross that more than suffering, trials and burdens divinely marks for us a specific mission in life: to become alter Christus, ipse Christus: another Christ, Christ himself! (St. Josemaría, Christ is Passing By, no. 104)
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