We begin the Lenten Season by receiving ashes....
The dust sprinkled on our heads brings us back to earth; it reminds us that we
are dust and to dust we shall return. We are weak, frail and mortal. Centuries
and millennia pass, and we come and go; before the immensity of galaxies and
space, we are nothing. We are dust in the universe. Yet we are dust loved
by God. It pleased the Lord to gather that dust in his hands and to breathe
into it the breath of life. We are thus a dust that is precious, destined for
eternal life. We are the dust of the earth, upon which God has poured out his
heaven, the dust that contains his dreams. We are God’s hope, his treasure and
his glory.
Ashes are thus a reminder of the direction of our
existence: a passage from dust to life. We are dust, earth, clay, but if
we allow ourselves to be shaped by the hands of God, we become something
wondrous. More often than not, though, especially at times of difficulty and loneliness,
we only see our dust! But the Lord encourages us: in his eyes, our littleness
is of infinite value. So, let us take heart: we were born to be loved; we were
born to be children of God.
Photograph by Brother Brian. Excerpts from a homily by Pope Francis, 2020.
