MANY CHRISTIANS TO BEGIN LENT TODAY IN PREPARATION FOR EASTER.

Byline: Tracy Valeri Daily News Staff Writer

Today is Ash Wednesday, a day that marks the beginning of Lent, a period in various Christian churches of penitential preparation for Easter.

Ashes rubbed on the foreheads of parishioners attending church services on Ash Wednesday symbolize human mortality and serve as a reminder that from ``dust we were created and to dust we shall return.''

Historically, in Western churches, the period provides for a strict 40-day fast (excluding Sundays), which is symbolic of Christ's fasting and temptation in the wilderness. The strict law of fasting among Roman Catholics was done away with during World War II, and the only Lenten fast days have become Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

In Eastern Catholic churches, fasting rules remain strict and Lent begins on a Monday, which is sometimes referred to as Pure Monday or Clean Monday.

Jesus' suffering and death, known as the Passion of Christ, are commemorated by many churches in special observances during Holy Week, the last week of Lent.

This year, Good Friday falls on March 28, with Easter on March 30.

Cardinal Roger Mahony, in his annual Lenten message for the Catholic Common Ground Initiative, focused on what he feels is ``a spirit of harsh judgment, bitterness and disunity'' taking hold in the church in America.

``Let us listen to Jesus' very clear words to us: `Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven,' '' Mahony said.