Talks on the Sacramentals, by Msgr Arthur Tonne - Ashes

 "And the men of Nivive believed in God: and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least." Jonas, 3:4.

A certain French nobleman who had led a wicked life was moved by grace to change his ways. As he was too well known in France, he went to Rome to make his confession to the Holy Father himself. Pope Pius VI, who reigned from 1775 to 1799, received him kindly, and heard his confession. But when it came to imposing a penance, nothing seemed to suit the sinner's tastes or strength. He was too weak to fast. He was too busy to read or pray much. He could not make a pilgrimage. He was too tired to keep prayerful watch. No penance seemed suitable.

Wise guide that he was, Pope Pius finally gave the penitent a gold ring on which were engraved the words, Memento mori, which mean, Remember thou shalt die. His penance was to wear this ring and read the words on it at least once a day.

At first this was easy, but as he read those terrifying and prophetic words day after day, the nobleman gradually realized that death would one day come to him. He reasoned:

"If I have to die, what else can I do better on this earth than prepare for death? Why pamper this body which will one day rot in the ground?"

He began to carry out not only one or two but all of the penances which the Holy Father suggested. He lead a virtuous life and died a happy death.

On Ash Wednesday of every year Mother Church gives to each one of us not a gold ring but a few ashes. The purpose of the ashes is the same as the purpose of the ring which Pope Pius VI gave to his penitent, namely, to remind us of death. The ashes tell us what the ring told the nobleman: Remember thou shalt die.

The blessing of the ashes begins with an antiphon and a verse of a psalm imploring the mercy and grace of God. Then come four prayers which express the meaning of the ashes:

1. To be a spiritual help for all who contritely confess their sins.

2. To secure for those who receive the ashes, the pardon of all their sins.

3. To fill everyone with the spirit of sorrow for sin.

4. To give us courage and strength to do penance bravely.

After the priest sprinkles the ashes with holy water and incenses them, he puts some on his own head and on the heads of those present. He says another prayer for protection in the coming combat. Ashes, a sacramental, are a symbol of penance:

1. Their color is gray, the color of penance. Ashes have a gritty, cleansing value; penance cleanses our hearts and removes the stains of sin. Ashes are a good fertilizer; penance helps us grow in virtue and bring forth fruits of justice.

2. In the Old Law ashes were a figure of penance:

a. When Jonas proclaimed to the Ninevites the destruction of their city, "they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth." Jonas, 3:4.

b. King David put ashes on his bread that even at meals he might remember his sins and the need of penance.

3. Ashes are a figure of penance in the New Law also:

a. In the early ages of the Church ashes were put on the heads of public sinners. At the beginning of Lent they came before the bishop, barefoot and in mourning garments to have the Penitential Psalms and the Litany of the Saints recited over them. All during Lent they performed the most rigorous penances.

b. Public penance is no longer practiced, but the practice of putting ashes on the head has been retained. Since 1091, the date of the Council of Beneventum, ashes are distributed to all, to sinner and saint alike, throughout the Church. All are sinners in some way or other. In some way or other all need penance.

Ashes spur us on to religious sacrifice:

1. Where do we get the ashes? They are secured by burning the palms blessed the Palm Sunday of the previous Lent.

a. The ashes of palms are used because the palm is an emblem of peace, which comes after combat and victory. The palms were carried as Christ entered Jerusalem, to show his claim to leadership and to victory. The burnt palms call upon us to win a victory over sin.

b. The ashes also remind us of Christ whom we must keep in mind all during Lent.

2. What are the ashes? They are the remains of burnt things--a picture of the emptiness and nothingness of temporal goods and pleasures.

3. When are the ashes distributed? At the beginning of Lent, a season of sorrow and suffering for sin, a season of preparation for the passion and death of Christ.

4. How are they distributed?

a. They are put on the head, which is the seat of pride. Mother Church thus points out to us that we have no reason to be proud, since we are nothing but dust and ashes.

b. They are put on in the form of a cross to remind us that Jesus died on a cross for us, and that we must take up the cross and follow Him.

5. Finally, while placing the ashes the priest says: "Remember, man, that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return."

The ashes may disappear from our foreheads, but their meaning and lesson must penetrate and grow in our hearts. As the ring reminded the nobleman of death, of the emptiness of material things and the value of spiritual things, so the ashes, eloquent sacramental of penance, must remind us of the nothingness of the things of this world and the value of things eternal. Amen.