Ash Wednesday
Hello Familyyy❤️
How are you doing rockstar? Hope you had a splendid week, a little excitement here, and a little toils there. I realize we need a beautiful balance of both many times.
How often do you think of death?
I know. It’s such a morbid subject, and like a wise philosopher would say “nobody wan die, but dey wan go heaven” (hope you caught that). So I am not surprised if you, like the thousands of others out there, don’t sit often and think about the end of your life.
Whilst the rest of the world was out having a jolly red Valentine’s Day, many Catholics all over the world were actually in church at some point in the day, celebrating “Ash Wednesday”, at least the devout ones. I want to tell you a little about Ash Wednesday because chances are, right now, reading this, may actually be the first time you are hearing about it. So, Ash Wednesday is the first day that marks the period that’s known as “Lent” in the Catholic Church. It’s the period that leads up to Easter, it’s for 40 days, and it is marked typically with prayer, fasting and alms giving. During Lent, Catholics are encouraged to deny their fleshy desires through all these practices. It’s a very sober period, and typically a call for reawakening of their Faith.
Now, back to Ash Wednesday. I can’t tell you all about Ash Wednesday, and everything that happens, and that isn’t really the focus. I just want to tell you about the part of the Catholic Mass on Ash Wednesday where they distribute Ashes- dried palm fronts gotten from last Palm Sunday, which was the Sunday before Easter (chances are this is also your first time hearing this, but I can’t talk much about this at this time)- the ashes are distributed by priests, who take some portion on their thumbs, and make the cross sign on the foreheads of individuals. As they do this, they repeat audibly these words: “remember oh man that dust you are and dust you shall return to”. It’s always the same every year, same words. Dust to dust. In case you are wondering how I know so much about this, I grew up Catholic and so, this is something I have experienced almost every year for the past decade of my life. I also had to join my family this last week in church for Ash Wednesday.
I may not accept all the practices of the Catholic Church right now, but Ash Wednesday is different for me. It has this effect on me that I can never really shake off, and I don’t know if it’s just me.
Just in case I may have forgotten, just in case reading Ecclesiastes doesn’t do the trick, Ash Wednesday drives one message home, hard core. Dust to Dust. It’s unfortunate that Ash Wednesday last only for a day, because truly more humans could do with that consciousness that, it all ends in dust. When I look at life through the lens of Ash Wednesday, it shakes me to my core. On this day, I think of my death, but more importantly, I think of how I am living right now. Am I living meaningfully, or as King Solomon in Ecclesiastes will put it, am I chasing the wind? Everything falls into place instantly as I look through the lens of Ash Wednesday. Life has more meaning this way.
Maybe you need to peep at life through the lens of Ash Wednesday a bit, and see how much that changes you and your perspective. I reckon that doing so will definitely do you some good.
Dust to Dust. Ashes to Ashes.
Sharing closing thoughts through quotes and scriptures today. Maybe you can tell me what you think about any of them.
”You will eat bread by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground, since you were taken from it. For you are dust, and you will return to dust.”“
Genesis 3:19 CSB
”For he knows what we are made of, remembering that we are dust.“
Psalms 103:14 CSB
”All are going to the same place; all come from dust, and all return to dust.“
Ecclesiastes 3:20 CSB
My dear friend, when grief presses you to the dust, worship there.
-Charles Spurgeon
Maybe you can also share your thoughts on how thinking about the end of life make you feel, is it something you approach comfortably or with a little resistance?
Thank you reading this Friday!
With utmost love and care,
Chukwunazaoku.
Death isn’t something I love thinking about but I think I’ve come to terms with it. It’s inevitable, it will happen. When that thought comes to mind it pushes me to live a life worth living, to tick the tasks in the “to do list of my kingdom agenda”because that’s what matters above all else.