Ash Wednesday is a curious cultural phenomenon. While not a holy day of obligation for Catholics, Ash Wednesday services find church buildings unusually full, and even those who do not make time to attend a liturgical service desire to have their foreheads imprinted with the unusual mark of a ashen cross. As Tony explains in this FRESHImage Presents, by searching for the opportunity to have ashes traced on their foreheads, people are recognizing several deep and interconnected truths about life in a fallen world. Learn more in this episode of FRESHImage Presents.
Works Cited:
Pew Research Center, Noble Kuriakose, “When Easter and Christmas near, more Americans search online for ‘church.’”
Pew Research Center, Benjamin Wormald, “Participation in Catholic Rites and Observances.”
Warren S. Brown and Brad D. Strawn, The Physical Nature of Christian Life, 76.
St. Gregory of Nyssa, On Perfection in St. Gregory of Nyssa: Ascetical Works, Fathers of the Church Series Vol. 58, 122.
Genesis 2:7
John 4:8
Genesis 3:5
Genesis 3:8
Genesis 3:12
Genesis 3:11b
Genesis 3:12
Genesis 3:13
Genesis 3:19
Genesis 3:15
Matthew 26:39
Esther 14:1-3
Job 42:6
Jonah 3:5-6
Matthew 11:21 & Luke 10:13
Joel 2:12-13
Philippians 2:6-11
The Roman Missal, Preface IV for Lent
Tony Crescio is the founder of FRESHImage Ministries. He holds an MTS from the University of Notre Dame and is currently a PhD candidate in Christian Theology at Saint Louis University. His research focuses on the intersection between moral and sacramental theology. His dissertation is entitled, Presencing the Divine: Augustine, the Eucharist and the Ethics of Exemplarity.
Tony’s academic publications can be found here.