Ash Wednesday

Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
Whenever Ash Wednesday comes to mind, I hear these
words. Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall
return.

Ash Wednesday is the first day of our Lenten journey, which
lasts for forty days (forty-six days if you count Sundays) before
Easter. For me, Ash Wednesday is the Holy Day that brings the
most profound and sometimes contradictory feelings. A reminder of
death, my mortality and friends and family I no longer see, but who
are close all the same. A day that points to the Resurrection and
promise of new life.

As we begin our journey towards the celebration of Easter, we
remember those we love and miss who have returned to dust. We
also think about many, far off and nearby, whom we don’t know.
Forty days of Lent before we shout the Paschal Greeting—Alleluia!
Christ is risen. The Lord is risen indeed!

—Brian Sellers-Petersen