O good and dearest Jesus, I kneel before your face. With all my heart I ask you to place in my heart more faith, hope and charity. Give me a true sorrow for my sins and a strong will to do better With great sorrow and grief I look upon your five wounds and think about them. Before my eyes are the words that the prophet David said of you, O good Jesus:
"They have pierced my hands and feet They have numbered all my bones."
Prayer Source Holy Lent by Eileen O'Callaghan The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota, 1975
Lent begins with the imposition of ashes, an ancient symbol of penance common in the Old Testament and pagan antiquity. Jesus alludes to it when he condemns the cities of Bethsaida and Chorazin for not doing penance.
“If the miracles performed in you had taken place in Trye and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes”.