

Wed, Feb 17
|St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church
Ash Wednesday 2021
Day of Fast and Abstinence Prayer Service with Distribution of Ashes | 6:30am • 12:05pm • 6:30pm Mass with Distribution of Ashes | 8:00am • 5:00pm
Time & Location
Feb 17, 2021, 6:30 AM – 6:30 PM CST
St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church, 551 N Rush St, Itasca, IL 60143, USA
About the Event
Due to the restrictions of Covid19, we are not imposing ashes on the forehead this year. For any person-to-person contact must be avoided. Rather, for the time being, we are returning to the more ancient custom of sprinkling ashes on the crown of head.
Ashes, as a Jewish sign of penitence, were accepted by Christians. They are derived from burning palms from the previous year.
This outward symbol of private or public sorrow, sadness, or penance, is a proof of humility, a remembrance of our mortality, that we are made of dust and will return to dust. The custom of imposing ashes, is a symbolic act signifying human mortality and total human dependence on the graciousness and mercy of God.
In the early Christian era ashes were imposed on public penitents, sprinkled on their penitential clothes.
The distribution of ashes gained popularity as many of the penitential practices once reserved…