“Are those human ashes?!”

Three twelve-year-old boys asked me that question when I was teaching at a Roman Catholic school some years ago. These boys, Protestant like me, were attending the compulsory Ash Wednesday mass for the first time, and were horrified at what they thought was going on.

I reassured my young students that no, those were not human ashes.

Today though, to you, I say “Yes! I hope so!” I hope the ashes of Ash Wednesday are your ashes. I hope during this holy season of Lent that you let what’s in the way of love burn up in Easter’s holy fire and wash away in the waters of new birth.

Lent is a time to get back to the true you. To return to and relearn the real sweetness of your heart, underneath the accumulations, armoring, and disguises of the years.

Soften. Gently notice obstacles to love and let them be removed. Be open and willing to be burned up. Trust your essential goodness. Listen deeply to your heart, which is the same thing as listening to God.

Your heart is also God’s heart. Your soul is that place within you where you and the Holy are most connected and interpenetrated.  

That’s the point of Lent. Disciplines are how we do this relearning, reconnecting, and listening, as incarnated souls living in precious bodies on this lovely planet in this singular moment. So choose your Lenten discipline carefully and make sure it does what you want it to do.

Perhaps you imagine Lent as spring cleaning. Or getting the garden ready for another growing season. Or razing that fancy McMansion and building a tiny sustainable house in its place. Or, as they do in northern New Mexico, cleaning the acequias so water flows freely to thirsty places. Or something else entirely.

The point, when the priest smears the gritty ashes on your forward and says “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” is not to dwell in your badness. The point is to reconnect with your goodness, your heart and soul, where you are at home in Holiness.

The hope of Lent is to give everything that is not true – every obstacle to loving yourself, others, and our world – to the flames of Lent.

Give everything that binds you to the flames, and rise in freedom with the sun of Easter.

Photo by Jamie Haughton on Unsplash