What do Catholics do on Ash Wednesday like how do we get the mark by going up to the priest?

Answer 1

Catholics, and many other Christian religions, observe Ash Wednesday six-and-a-half weeks before Holy Week and Easter. It is the beginning of 40 days of penitence and reflection, called Lent, to cleanse our soul by making atonement for the wrong things we have done in the last year. The ashes are made by burning the blessed palm fronds used on last year's Palm Sunday and christened with Holy Water. The marking of the forehead with a cross made of ashes reminds each of us that: 1. Death comes to everyone 2. We should be sad for their sins 3. We must change ourselves for the better 4. God made the first human being by breathing life into dust, and without God, human beings are nothing more than dust and ashes. 5. It's also a reminder of the mark of the cross made at baptism 6. The cross of ashes may symbolize the way Christ's sacrifice on the cross as atonement for sin replaces the Old Testament tradition of making burnt offerings to atone for sin. When marking the sign of the cross on each believer's forehead, the celebrant says, "Remember, man, that you are dust and unto dust you shall return." or "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel." When leaving the observance, we carry the cross out into the world. During Lent, each Christian imitates Jesus' withdrawal into the wilderness for forty days. It invites us to undertake spiritual discipline, deliberate abstinence from indulgent behavior involving food or luxuries, or finding ways to be of service to society.