“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return”. These words, spoken for the first time by God to Adam after he had committed sin, are repeated today by the Church to each of us, as ashes are imposed on our foreheads.
“Remember you are dust”, here is a truth that is difficult for us to grasp. Our inflated egos, our pride, our arrogance hate these words. For we spend an awful lot of time and energy trying to prove to others we are anything but dust. We want people to see how creative we are, how smart we are, how strong we are, how popular we are, how rich we are, how powerful we are. And today, the Church says, forget about all of that, “remember you are dust.”
Dust, the ashes which are placed on our foreheads, they are anything but powerful and significant. They can be dispersed with the lightest breath, brushed off absentmindedly. It’s the most invaluable of earthly substances. Less valuable than air. We need air to breath, we don’t need dust for anything.
“Remember you are dust” is a humbling reality and reminder of our past, present, and future.
It’s a reminder of our past, our creation. For Genesis tells us, that God made Adam from the dust of the earth. We wouldn’t even have life if God had not given it to us. Here is a reminder to not take our life for granted. Lots of people walking around as if their life belongs to them. No. You exist because God made you. And we have the utmost responsibility to make sure that we use that life according to God’s plans, and not just our own. And to be grateful for the life that we’ve been given.
Remember you are dust, is a reminder of our future. Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return. Here is a reminder of our mortality. We will die. Our earthly bodies will return to the earth. And immortal souls we will face God as our judge. We get into a lot of trouble, we fall into a lot of sins, perhaps all of them, because we forget this fact, the fact that our actions have consequences, and that we will be judged for our sins.
And remember you are dust, is a reminder, that in the present we are to not allow ourselves to become inflated with sin. Ashes today are a pinprick to burst the balloons for our inflated egos. We were made from nothing, our finite lives and intellects are as nothing compared to the omniscience and omnipotence of God, the number of likes we received on social media are nothing.
But are nothingness is a good and holy thing to contemplate King David contemplated his nothingness before God in Psalm 38, when he wrote, “O Lord, my substance is as nothing before Thee.”
Remember, too St. John the Baptist says, I must decrease, so that Christ may increase.
This imposition of ashes, in the end, is about Christ. The humility of Ashes helps us to become more like Christ, which is the aim of Lent, the purpose of Lent. We seek repentance and purification of our sins, so that we can become like Christ. We engage in prayer, fasting, and almsgiving so that we can become like Christ. We turn away from earthly vanity so that we can become like Christ. So that we can decrease in order for the life of Christ to increase in us. “God despises nothing that He has Made” and desires our salvation.
So, “remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return” for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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That this season of Lent may be a time of profound renewal for our parish and the Church as we engage in the penitential practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.
For “an immediate end to the hostilities in Ukraine, for a restoration of peace and for the safety of all Ukrainian citizens. And for the Ukrainian community in Northeast Ohio, that their friends and family members in their beloved homeland be kept out of harm’s way.”
That God will rescue all those who live at a distance from him because of self-absorption or sin. We pray to the Lord.
That all families will recommit themselves to fervent prayer this Lent so as to grow in greater love and holiness.
That this Lent we will be faithful to fasting and to all the ways that the Lord sanctifies us. We pray to the Lord.
For those preparing to enter the Church at Easter: that they will be profoundly blessed in their preparation for full initiation into the Body of Christ.
For the needs of the poor, the hungry, the homeless, those who are sick, unemployed, or suffering from addiction, mental, or physical illness, and those most in need: that the Lord in his goodness will be close to them in their trials.
For all those who have died, for all the poor souls in purgatory, for those who have fought and died for our country’s freedom, and for [intention below], for whom this Mass is offered.
Mercifully hear, O Lord, the prayers of your Church and turn with compassion to the hearts that bow before you, that those you make sharers in the divine mystery may never be left without your assistance. Through Christ our Lord.
