Ash Wednesday is the beginning of the Lenten season. By receiving ashes and keeping them on, we reflect on turning our lives over to God more fully. It reminds us to repent and turn away from sin and turn towards God. It is an outward expression of our need to begin again. Lent lasts for 40 days, in commemoration of the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, before beginning his public ministry,during which he endured temptation by Satan.

“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”