Dear People of God: The first Christians observed with great devotion
the days of our Lord's passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of
the Church to prepare for them by a season of penitence and fasting. This
season of Lent provided a time in which converts to the faith were prepared for
Holy Baptism. It was also a time when those who, because of notorious sins, had
been separated from the body of the faithful were reconciled by penitence and
forgiveness, and restored to the fellowship of the Church. Thereby, the whole
congregation was put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set forth
in the Gospel of our Savior, and of the need which all Christians continually
have to renew their repentance and faith.
I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance
of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and
self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word. And, to make a
right beginning of repentance, and as a mark of our mortal nature, let us now kneel
before the Lord, our maker and redeemer.
Almighty God, you have created us out of
the dust of the earth: Grant that these ashes may be to us a sign of our mortality and penitence, that we may
remember that it is only by your
gracious gift that we are given everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our
Savior. Amen.
Remember that you are dust, and to dust
you shall return.
From the Liturgy for Ash Wednesday, Episcopal Book of Common Prayer
