Ash Wednesday

Yesterday we received ashes on our heads in the conspicuous shape of a cross, in order to remind ourselves and the world, “remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return”. 

 My husband and I were getting some sandwiches for dinner before driving home to Chicago from Indianapolis, where he had been taking the Bar Exam and I had been recovering from a staff infection. As we sat down to eat our small dinner, a family with two young children came into the sub shop. The little boy, who looked about 7, asked his mother

“Why are their faces dirty?” and she responded that we must be Catholics, that it was Ash Wednesday, and the mysterious smudges on our foreheads were ashes and not dirt. This precious child responded by asking, his voice full of concern,

“Are they hot ashes?”  🙂

God Bless that little boy. He made me smile and my husband chuckle. His mom then explained to him why Catholics wear ashes. She basically said that we wear them to make a statement, to tell the world “they belong to Jesus”. Not bad at all coming from someone who was obviously not Catholic. 

This incident got me thinking and wishing there was some kind of outer marking, something we could wear on a consistent basis that would make it immediately clear that we “belong to Jesus”. Now you might be thinking of ways to break the news to me that there is such a thing, and it is called a habit. This I know. 

I also know that priests wear the collar, nuns and brothers wear the habit (or should), but there doesn’t seem to be a habit for the middle class. Even a cross necklace is often just that – a piece of jewelry- before it is a public statement of faith, if it even gets that far. 

What a wonderful opportunity we have on Ash Wednesday to boldly and bodily wear our faith “on our sleeves” as it were, by wearing it on our heads. May the spirit of that bold proclamation be within us as we travel through Lent to the risen Christ.

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