Why do we receive ashes? Penitents in the past had to wear robes of a kind of burlap and walk around with ashes in their hair instead of their customary perfumed pomades... but how do we explain the ashes to the kids of today with their i-pods in their ears and their latest Nike footwear.
Google tells us that all living things contain carbon and that ashes are almost pure carbon. In science fiction movies the aliens from outer space call us the "carbon-based life".
So the carbon that the priest placed on my forehead this morning is the most basic of life elements. This sacramental calls me to "get back to basics". I am using much more of the earths riches than most of the inhabitants of our planet have. I must cut down my artificial needs so that they can fill their most basic wants. After a week in Uganda, I almost wept with gratitude for my first hot, running water shower. For a long time every shower was an occasion of grateful humility to God for an unearned simple fortune of being born in the wealthy northern hemisphere. Time passed and now it is again taken for granted.
The ashes, though, remind me that the greatest gift of all was the life that joins me to every other human being -- all the beloved children of one Father. I am reminded that ashes, the dust to which we will return is the great equalizer. Kings, presidents, and beggars will all come to the end of this life and begin an eternity of perfect justice. We stand before the Father of us all and beg the grace to be truly loving children.
