{"id":58494,"date":"2026-02-18T06:04:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T05:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omnesmag.com\/?p=58494"},"modified":"2026-02-17T16:00:33","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T15:00:33","slug":"why-people-fill-the-pews-on-ash-wednesday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omnesmag.com\/en\/foco\/por-que-la-gente-llena-los-bancos-el-miercoles-de-ceniza\/","title":{"rendered":"Why people fill the pews on Ash Wednesday"},"content":{"rendered":"

- Kimberley Heatherington, OSV News<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a common experience for those attending the Ash Wednesday Mass. The pews are filled with many attendees, many of whom are unfamiliar to regular parishioners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who are all these people and why are they there?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They want their ashes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tracking Mass attendance between 2019 and 2024, Georgetown University's Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, which conducts social scientific studies for and about the Catholic Church, reported that Ash Wednesday continues to compete with Easter and Christmas for the most attended Masses each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, attendance at the 2024 Ash Wednesday Mass exceeded attendance at the 2023 Christmas Mass. Why do so many people make an extra effort to go to church on Ash Wednesday, the first of the 40 days of Lent<\/a> when it is not a holy day of obligation and they are not obliged to receive the ashes?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Identity marker: we are Catholic<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of the things without a doubt is that, for many people, it's a very clear identity marker that they are Roman Catholic,\u201d said Jesuit Father Bruce Morrill, professor of theology and chair of Roman Catholic Studies at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI've often seen younger people - even before this era of younger, more conservative Catholics - very excited about this, saying, \u2018This is our public declaration that we are Catholic,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, he noted, other Christian denominations also distribute ashes, so the soot stain on the forehead seen on Ash Wednesday may belong to an Episcopalian or a Lutheran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflection on death and sin<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

But for everyone, the ashes include an invitation to reflect on mortality and sin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think the two things, death and sin, have a strong overlap,\u201d Father Morrill said. While people may rush for his ashes - with their unmistakable outward sign of inner penitence - he hasn't noticed a similar stampede into the confessional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, \u201ceven in an age when people do not go to the sacrament of penance as often as they did in the early 20th century, this symbol touches us deeply about our sin,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is a symbolic ritual action that speaks to them.\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A man prays during Ash Wednesday Mass at Sacred Heart Church in Prescott, Arizona, March 5, 2025. (Photo by OSV News\/Bob Roller).
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ash Wednesday as a way of looking towards Easter<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Mixed with the monotony of contemplating \u201cthe Four Last Things\u201d, the Four Last Realities (death, judgment, heaven and hell), there is an anticipatory look towards a change of season and, with it, renewal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAsh Wednesday is a way of anticipating Easter,\u201d Father Morrill said. \u201cAnd here in the northern hemisphere, that also means anticipating spring.\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ashes are made from the palms blessed on Palm Sunday of the previous year, and the tradition of placing them on the penitents dates back to the 11th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blessing and imposition of ashes<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As stated in the Directory on Popular Piety and Liturgy, published by the Vatican's Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, \u201cthe imposition of ashes is a survival of an ancient rite according to which converted sinners underwent canonical penance. The act of putting on ashes symbolizes frailty and mortality, and the need to be redeemed by God's mercy.\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it is not, the directory continues, a gesture to be taken lightly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFar from being a merely external act, the Church has preserved the use of ashes to symbolize that attitude of interior penance to which all the baptized are called during Lent,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe faithful who come to receive the ashes should be helped to perceive the inner meaning implicit in this act, which disposes them to conversion and a renewed paschal commitment.\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaker, retreat leader and author Liz Kelly also emphasized the connection between ritual and relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A child receives ashes at Sacred Heart Church in Prescott, Arizona, on March 5, 2025. \u00a9OSV News\/Bob Roller photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Deep desire for a relationship with God<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIngrained in the human heart is a deep desire for a relationship with God, a recognition that disciplines such as Ash Wednesday nurture and protect,\u201d said Kelly, who directs women's formation at the Institute. Word on Fire.<\/a>, and that in March she expects to publish her next book, \u201cAnchored by Hope: Meditations to Soothe the Anxious Soul,\u201d with The Word Among Us Press. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were created for order, and whether our lives are orderly or disorderly, we all suffer some disorder and long for the order that infuses us with Divine Order,\u201d he said. \u201cAsh Wednesday responds to this deep desire for order, for reordering, an order that leads to new life, prosperity and peace.\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be cleaned<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At Kelly Parish in Minnesota, ashes are sprinkled over the top of the head, not imposed on the forehead, which provides a somewhat different penitential experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ash slides through your hair: it stings, it makes it dirty, it irritates, it spreads and stains everything it touches. You almost forget it's there until it's time to brush your hair or go to sleep, or you scratch your head, and then, there it is: this black, irritating stain,\u00bb he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe ash also has a corrosive texture; it is not easily removed by hands or by rubbing,\u201d he added. \u201cIt takes water to remove it completely.\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This provides an opportunity for further reflection, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd isn't that like sin? We need mediation to remove it,\u201d he said. \u00abDon't we desire precisely what reconciliation produces: to be cleansed of this irritating, corrosive stain?\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The attractiveness of the materiality of ashes<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Kelly continued, \u201cThis is part of the great genius of the Church: She understands that we need sacramentals, we need to use these things in and on the body as a means to bring about inner transformation and understanding.\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Timothy O'Malley, who teaches at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, agreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cReligious practice requires the body, and it's just a very trite kind of spirituality that forgets that and tries to think of it simply as a kind of intellectual phenomenon,\u201d said O'Malley, professor of theology, academic director of Notre Dame's Center for Liturgy and associate director of research at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at Notre Dame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O'Malley added that sprinkling ashes on the head is a common practice around the world, although rare in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The materiality of ashes seems to attract people, and self-discipline is a natural attraction in a society focused on self-improvement, especially when combined with a realistic awareness that life has proverbial ups and downs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fasting is necessary. Penance<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think people just need those moments in their lives,\u201d O'Malley said. \u201cThere's a recognition that existence can't be completely festive. Fasting is necessary, and this is kind of a gateway to the Church's fast.\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That realization, he explained, can be intriguing to those who do not belong to any particular denomination. He said he has a friend who lives in New Orleans and, although he does not attend Mass, he often stops drinking alcohol during the Lent<\/a> due to the Catholic culture of the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And while it is to be hoped that future penitents will actually find their way inside the walls of a church this Feb. 18, O'Malley noted that on New York City street corners, ashes are often handed out as people exit the subway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI've always thought that there is a desire on the part of the human being, for a certain space of silence and contemplation, a kind of penitential day,\u201d he said. \u201cIt's fascinating.\u201d.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

– Kimberley Heatherington, OSV News Es una experiencia com\u00fan para los asistentes a la misa del Mi\u00e9rcoles de Ceniza. Los bancos est\u00e1n llenos de muchos asistentes, muchos de los cuales no son familiares para los feligreses habituales. \u00bfQui\u00e9nes son todas estas personas y por qu\u00e9 est\u00e1n all\u00ed? Quieren su ceniza. Al hacer un seguimiento de […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2425,"featured_media":58501,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[549,548],"tags":[588,1398],"class_list":["post-58494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-evangelizacion","category-foco","tag-cuaresma","tag-miercoles-de-ceniza"],"yoast_head":"\nPor qu\u00e9 la gente llena los bancos el Mi\u00e9rcoles de Ceniza<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"El Mi\u00e9rcoles de Ceniza sigue compitiendo con la Pascua y la Navidad por las misas con mayor asistencia cada a\u00f1o.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.omnesmag.com\/en\/focus\/why-people-fill-the-pews-on-ash-wednesday\/\" 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