This issue of Catholic Update explores the origins and meaning behind one of the most distinctive traditions in the Church. "Those who work with liturgy in parishes know that some of the largest crowds in the year will show up to receive ashes on Ash Wednesday," the author writes. "Though this is not a holy day of obligation in our tradition, many people would not think of letting Ash Wednesday go by without a trip to church to be marked with an ashen cross on their foreheads."