Ash Wednesday serves as a solemn reminder of our mortality and our need for reconciliation with God. When we come forth to be marked with ashes we will be instructed either “Repent and believe in the Gospel” or “You are dust and unto dust you shall return.” In both of these statements we do not hear an invitation to celebrate, but to repent. Therefore, to those who dare to be marked with ashes this day please remember the statement that you make. By surrendering yourself to this ancient tradition you cry out that you are a sinner who is in need of God’s mercy. With that I invite you to make use of the sacrament of confession because if you dare to wear these ashes you have something to confess and are greatly in need of God’s infinite mercy. Dare to surrender yourself to this mercy instead of continuing to profess that one is a sinner who knows that they are such, but rejects God’s mercy. Through this penitential season of Lent may we repent and believe in the Gospel; only then will we become true witnesses of the Gospel message.
