Ash Wednesday

Pastor Edwin Zarate

During Ash Wednesday we are being reminded that we are dust and to dust we shall return. Each one of us, children, young and old come together and the ashes will be marked on our forehead with the sign of the cross. It is a powerful reminder that we are all mortals, and it puts everything in a proper perspective of the truth about us. We will all die someday. Nothing will last forever. This bodily form and all material things attached into it will surely come to an end.

In the book of Genesis, God formed a man from the clay of the ground, then he breathed a life-giving breath on him and the man became a living being. We are the living breath of God. We cannot also deny the fact that we were formed or molded out of the ground and to the ground we shall return. Genesis 3:19 says, “For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” The wisdom book in the Scripture also affirms this truth, “All go unto one place, all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.” (Ecclesiastes 3:20). Then on the twelfth chapter of the same wisdom book, “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return to God who gave it.” (Ecclesiastes 12:7).

As we enter into Lent, may we remember who we are. Yes, we are mortals, and we seek the purpose and meaning of our life from the One who created us through Christ. Christ our Lord is the way, the truth, and the life. He is our hope that leads us all to eternity.