We are no more than dust if we had no soul. The dust on our forehead is indeed a warning to take heed because we are not merely a body. Obviously, without the soul, the body will go where it is supposed to go. Just like the animals. But as the body is also ensouled, the body has a higher vocation. It is to share the divine life of God which makes every choice here on earth crucial. The decisions we take play a defining role whether or not we will achieve the purpose for which the human person is intended: to praise God, to revere and to serve Him and thereby gain eternal life.
It does not sound like fun. The perception of eternity is crippled by a lack of imagination. We cannot imagine what heaven is like. If you can, think of the best possible pleasure that you ever had or can ever imagine. The problem with this marvellous sensational experience is that it will leave you yearning for more. Adrenalin junkies will appreciate this longing. Once the rush dies down, the craving for stimulation begins. Ironical that sometimes people laud an experience as “out of this world”. Clearly, these people have no inkling what “out of this world” means because the truth remains that whatever experiences we have in this life will never fully satisfy. We are always left wanting even when an experience is exceptional because eternal life is infinitely more than we can ever imagine. Eternal life is when we will no longer search because the human heart has found its true love: God Himself.
Lent is therefore a time of renewal—a call to reflect on our lives to see where our heart and what the state of our soul is. The dust reminds us not to tarry and wait too long because as long as we are here, we will always have relationships to repair—with God and with others.
The need to repair is evidence by a tribalism involved in this celebration. How so? It is nowhere near a day of obligation but attendance seems to suggest that it is. People come today because the ash, apart from calling attention to the frailty of human existence, is also an expression of our solidarity. In a society which is markedly non-Christian, the mark of the cross on the forehead is indeed a refreshing memento of our fellowship, most especially of belonging firstly to Christ and also to the brotherhood and sisterhood of sinners, loved and ransomed by Christ. The ash reminds us that king or pauper, rich or poor, we are all sinners in need of conversion and salvation. Our fasting and abstinence today is a start. As we sacrifice, let us all keep Ukraine in our windscreen and pray for a speedy resolution to this mindless conflict.
