The priest burns last years palm crosses. .ppt

* The priest burns last years palm crosses. The ashes are then used to make a sign of the cross on the forehead. Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. It occurs forty days before Easter not counting Sundays. Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent for Western Christian churches. Its a day of penitence to clean the soul before the Lent fast. ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Roman Catholic, Anglican, and some other churches hold special services at which worshippers are marked with ashes as a symbol of death, and sorrow for sin. The palm cross And the ash God our Father, you create us from the dust of the earth. Grant that these ashes may be for us a sign of our penitence, and a symbol of our mortality. ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? The minister or priest marks each worshipper on the forehead, and says remember you are dust and unto dust you shall return, or a similar phrase based on Gods sentence on Adam in Genesis 3:19. ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? The marking of their forehead with a cross made of ashes reminds each churchgoer that: Death comes to everyone They should be sad for their sins They must change themselves for the better God made the first human being by breathing life into dust, and without God, human beings are nothing more than dust and ashes *