Dust and Ashes: Mortality, Ash Wednesday & Collective Memory

Fellow zombies attempting to remember our Identity,

Yesterday we began one of the most intense seasons in the Family year.  As our heads were marked with ashen crosses, we exhaled and sighed, remembering that humankind was created from the dust of the earth and animated by the Breath of our Creator.  We all know, don't we, the pain that comes with the return to the earth?  Death hardly ever comes easily or quickly.  Very few people simply drift from this life into the next without a fight.  We live in a society seemingly hell-bent on retaining animation as long as possible.

Ash Wednesday, dear brothers and sisters, reminds us that we will return to the earth.  But this is not the end, dear ones.  Oh no, this is not the end.

On a day that is known only to our Beloved, we will all be changed.  In the twinkling of an eye, with the sound of a horn echoing through the clouds, all of humanity will walk once more, but this time in the Light of our Maker.  There will be no more pain, no more sorrow, no more struggle with memory, no more insatiable hungers.  We shall all be satisfied as with the richest of feasts, and each one will abide in safety.

But in the present time, we get confused, dear ones.  As we await the Promised Hour, we all participate in an endless feeding frenzy: devouring land, water and natural resources as though tomorrow doesn't matter.  We pit ourselves against one another, claiming titles of left and right, republican and democrat, Christian and Atheist, human and terrorist.  In the lengthening hours of light, we are seen to prefer the shadows.  We all participate in actions leading towards death.

The Family Crest
Ash Wednesday Remembrance

Yet with the tolling of the bell, with the wailing of the priests and prophets, with the receiving of the ashen crosses throughout the day yesterday, we were all called to turn towards Life.  Dear ones, what will you do this Lenten season to remember who and whose you are?  How will you reconnect with our Beloved?  How will you grow in love of neighbor?  What prejudice will you overcome?  What natural resource will you strive to preserve?  How will you grow in solidarity with our worldwide human family?  How will you connect with our Lord's precious creation?

We are on the journey towards Holy Week where we walk the road to the cross with our Beloved.  May the Holy Spirit, our precious Sophia and Breath of Life, work within us in this time to bring transformation and newness of life in Jesus' name to the glory of our Creator.  Blessings upon your Lenten journey.  Amen.