Ash Wednesday

Yesterday, I passed a woman on my way to the 110th St stop of the B/C subway line. She had a smudge on her forehead... I noticed but didn't really pause, since it wasn't the weirdest thing I'd seen all day. But then I got on the train and the man across from me had a big dark thumbprint in the middle of his forhead, as did another kid sitting a few seats down from him. Hmmm. Multiple citings of oddities means there is a unifying theme... Oh that's right! 40 days before Easter, Mardi Gras just finished, Lent is beginning... Ash Wednesday.

My church doesn't participate in the practices of Ash Wednesday, although I think its a beautiful gesture/tradition/practice. Wanting to learn more and make sure I was getting my facts straight, I did some googling to brush up on the meaning of the smudgy foreheads. (This is my understanding...)

Ash Wednesday is a day of repentance, signifying the beginning of Lent, which is a period of fasting and personal sacrifice precending Good Friday and Easter, meant to reaffirm faith in Christ and commitment to God. The ash that they put on their forhead is created by burning the palm fronds from the previous year's Good Friday and mixing with a consecrated oil, which is then applied by a priest as he recites the words: "Remember, O man, that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return."

I was really taken with this whole idea and kept repeating the phrase in latin to myself all day long: Memento homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris.

What I found truly moving, however, was how many people I saw yesterday with the ash on their forehead. Every few steps through the crowd, on every subway platform, in every store, on every block I saw people participating in this open expression of faith.