THE MEANING OF ASHES
The ashes with which we begin Lent remind us of fundamental truths about ourselves. The dust of the ashes reminds us that death is inevitable for each of us. The ashes speak of repentance, of our need to convert our lives, and of the need to repent and believe in the Gospel. The ashes speak of a fire that has grown cold, a fire that needs to be rekindled within us by the time we light the new fire at the Easter Vigil. We seek to rise from the ashes of our sinfulness to a fuller life with Christ. But before we can embrace the new life of the resurrection, we must embrace the cross. Before coming to the font of life-giving water, we must travel the desert. To embrace new life, we must be willing to embrace death. To become our true selves, we must leave the false selves behind which we have been hiding. Though it sounds negative, the dying to self to which we are called is the only way to fullness of life, and thus it is a profoundly positive step in our spiritual life, a step that begins with being signed with ashes.