Ashes remind us that we are made of earth — fragile, temporary, and profoundly sacred. In many spiritual traditions, dust is not a symbol of shame but of origin. We come from the soil of creation, breathed into life by Holy Wisdom. The ashes placed upon our foreheads do not say, “You are unworthy.” They say, “You are human, and you are loved.”
Too often Lent has been framed as a journey of fixing ourselves or proving our worthiness to God. But the Gospel tells a different story. Jesus begins his ministry not by striving, but by hearing the words spoken at his baptism: “You are my beloved.”
Lent begins there for us as well.
Ashes mark not an ending, but a beginning — the courage to live honestly, tenderly, and awake to grace.
No comments:
Post a Comment