Ash Wednesday

Remember you are dust, and to dust you will return

There is something comforting in knowing that today people all around the world heard these words and were marked with an ash cross on their foreheads. There is something beautiful in knowing that all of us are dust, and to dust we will all return.

Remember you are dust, and to dust you will return.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, the season leading up to Easter. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of a season of mourning, of penance, of prayer. It marks a season of death, of sacrifice, of emptying, to ready us for Easter.

“Yes, Lord, I have to die--with you, through you, and in you--and thus become ready to recognize you when you appear to me in your Resurrection.”

            - Henri Nouwen, A Cry for Mercy: Prayers for the Genesee 

Remember you are dust, and to dust you will return.

We are all mourning in this season. We are all dying, with Jesus, in this season. And that mourning is comforting to me as I mourn. That death is comforting to me as my mom is dying. And that promise of resurrection is comforting to me as I search for hope in all of this.

Remember you are dust, and to dust you will return.