Among this week's
Prayer Book observances is Ash Wednesday, one of two "Fast Days" of the Church
Year (the other being Good Friday) and the first day of the 40-day penitential
season of Lent, which continues through Holy Week. Sundays are not counted
among the forty days because Sundays are always considered Feast Days of Our
Lord. Continuing the prechristian use of ashes as a symbol of mourning, grief,
and repentance, many Christian Churches include the imposition of ashes as an
option for worshippers. Usually administered on the worshipper's forehead with
the "sign of the Cross," the additional dimension of human mortality has been
added to their symbolic meaning: "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you
shall return." Please read Prayer Book pages 264-269 for an understanding of
the meanings of Ash Wednesday.