In 1983, on the seventh Wednesday before Easter, bushfires roared through many districts of Victoria and South Australia, leaving 85 people dead and over 3000 homes and other buildings reduced to ashes.

That event is remembered as the “Ash Wednesday Fires”.

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The 46^th day before Easter was, of course, known as “Ash Wednesday” long before that.

A “day of ashes” to mark the beginning of Lent, the six-week pre-Easter season of prayers and fasting, has been celebrated by Catholics for over 1400 years.

It was mentioned in the Order of the Mass called the “Gregorian Sacramentary” (named after Pope Gregory I, pope from 590 to 604AD) which was the forerunner of the Traditional Catholic Mass used by all Catholics until the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s – and still used by traditional Catholics.

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The name “Ash Wednesday” comes from the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of believers as a sign of repentance. While doing it, the priest recites the words: “Remember, O man, that you are dust, and to dust you shall return”.

Using ashes in ceremonies associated with sorrow for sins goes even further back into Old Testament times (in the books of Jeremiah, Psalms, Jonas, Judith, Job and others).

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Ashes signify that we want God to give us a humble heart, so that we may weep for our sins and stop doing them – and to receive God’s strength to never give up, but to persevere in pleasing Him.

With such thoughts in your mind, go to church today and, as the ashes are put on your head, ask humbly for God’s mercy and grace.