Lent – the liturgical season of forty days which begins with Ash Wednesday and ends with the celebration of the Paschal Mystery (Easter Triduum). Lent is the primary penitential season in the Church’s liturgical year, reflecting the forty days Jesus spent in the desert in fasting and prayer (CCC Glossary Page 886)
For 2021: Ash Wednesday is on February 17. Paschal Triduum starts on April 1st.
Triduum: Holy Thursday – April 1st
Good Friday – April 2
Easter Vigil – April 3
Ash Wednesday is not a holy day of obligation however, a lot of Catholics come to church on Ash Wednesday “to get ashes”. What is the significance of ashes on Ash Wednesday?
Biblical root of ashes:
Jonah 3:6
Esther 4:1-3
2 Sam 13:19
Ezekiel 28:18
Jeremiah 6:26
Numbers: 19:17
Job 42:6
Daniel 9:3
Ashes are a sign of physical death, as in ‘ashes to ashes, dust to dust’. We began as dust and our bodies will return to dust until we are raised up by Christ. By receiving ashes and keeping them on, we publicly proclaim our intent to die to our worldly desires and live even more in Christ’s image, which we focus on during the season of ‘rebirth’ that is Lent (a Latin term for spring).