The imposition of ashes on a person’s forehead or on the palm of their hand is an ancient custom, dating back as early as the first or second century, A.D. The ashes are made by burning the palms from Palm Sunday, saved from the previous year – a reminder that the glorious King, welcomed by the crowds on Palm Sunday, is also the Crucified One, who died for our sins. The ashes also signify humility, reminding us that we are children of dust, and to dust we shall return.

Most of us have a difficult time thinking about our own death. We know that we will die, yet we find out mortality hard to accept. Yet, as long as we fight off the reality of death, we have little incentive to repent or to open ourselves to God’s grace. Yet because death does set firm boundaries on life, we are challenged to accept God’s grace – "Today!" "Now is the acceptable time," the Scriptures say. "Today is the day of salvation!" Tomorrow is too late!

Ashes remind us of how brief our life is, "like the grass which one day grows and the next is cut for fuel for the fire." That little smudge tells us that God is changing us from people of dust to people of Heaven.

The imposition of ashes on a person’s forehead or on the palm of their hand is an ancient custom, dating back as early as the first or second century, A.D. The ashes are made by burning the palms from Palm Sunday, saved from the previous year – a reminder that the glorious King, welcomed by the crowds on Palm Sunday, is also the Crucified One, who died for our sins. The ashes also signify humility, reminding us that we are children of dust, and to dust we shall return.

Most of us have a difficult time thinking about our own death. We know that we will die, yet we find out mortality hard to accept. Yet, as long as we fight off the reality of death, we have little incentive to repent or to open ourselves to God’s grace. Yet because death does set firm boundaries on life, we are challenged to accept God’s grace – "Today!" "Now is the acceptable time," the Scriptures say. "Today is the day of salvation!" Tomorrow is too late!

Ashes remind us of how brief our life is, "like the grass which one day grows and the next is cut for fuel for the fire." That little smudge tells us that God is changing us from people of dust to people of Heaven.