Ashes

So Lent is here.  And we 'mark' this day by having a cross of ashes traced on our foreheads.  Many people, even those who do not otherwise attend Mass, come for this ritual, which causes me to ponder why we do this at all?  Do we think we are being blessed by God with this symbol?  Do we think it is a 'mark of protection' from God?  Or do we see this for what it is - a call to come to grips with our mortality and our place in the universe?

The ashes we receive are that reminder we all need that God is God and we are not, that in the grand scheme of things we are insignificant, and that all we have and all we are will, one day, be reduced to a pile (and a small one at that) of ashes.  I can remember the shock I felt when I first saw the cremains of a deceased person - shocked at how little there really was.  Yes, when we get right down to it, everything we deem so important, everything we get so uptight about and frustrated with on a day-to-day basis, is not so very important after all.

And so when we stop and think about all of this, and see the ashes on our foreheads, the only conclusion we can possibly draw is that we really do need to turn everything over to the One who IS in control, the One who guides and governs ALL things, the Lord of Life.  May we use these forty days to rid ourselves of all that gets in the way of doing that, so that we might journey with Jesus through his Passion and draw ever closer to our ultimate goal - eternal life in the Father's Kingdom of true and lasting peace.