"The Christian community listens to this vigorous invitation to conversion as it gets ready to undertake the Lenten journey that begins with the ancient rite of the imposition of ashes. This gesture, that some might consider outmoded, certainly clashes with the modern mentality, but this forces us to look for its deeper meaning, to explain its effective impact.
Receiving the ashes on the head, means recognizing that we are creatures, made of earth and destined to return to it; it also means proclaiming that we are sinners, in need of God's pardon in order to be able to live according to the Gospel; finally, it means reviving our hope in the definitive encounter with Christ in the glory and peace of Heaven."
Pope John Paul II, Ash Wednesday 2003
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