Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Lenten Season in the Catholic Church.

Speaking of the Church’s celebration of this day, Pope Benedict XVI said,

The Ash Wednesday liturgy indicates the fundamental dimension of Lent in the conversion of the heart to God. This is the evocative message contained in the traditional Rite of Ashes….

It is a rite with a double meaning: the first is related to interior change, to conversion and penance, while the second recalls the precarious human condition, as it is easy to understand from the two different formulas that accompany the gesture.