On March 1st. Holy Family celebrated the Ash Wednesday Eucharist from the Book of Common Prayer. The first of the forty days of Lent, this day is named for the custom of placing blessed ashes on the foreheads of worshipers at Ash Wednesday services. The ashes are a sign of penitence and a reminder of mortality, and may be imposed with the sign of the cross. Ash Wednesday is observed as a fast in the church year of the Episcopal Church.