Ash Wednesday is a reminder that we all came from dust and to dust we will return.
Genesis 2:7
Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
Genesis 18:27
Then Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes,
Job 7:21
Why do you not pardon my offenses and forgive my sins? For I will soon lie down in the dust; you will search for me, but I will be no more.”
Job 10:9
Remember that you molded me like clay. Will you now turn me to dust again?
Job 20:11
The youthful vigor that fills his bones will lie with him in the dust.
Psalm 90:3
You turn people back to dust, saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.”
Psalm 103:14
for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.
Psalm 104:29
When you hide your face, they are terrified; when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust.
Ecclesiastes 3:20
All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.
Ecclesiastes 12:7
and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
1 Corinthians 15:47
The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven.
(From: http://www.biblegateway.com/keyword/index.php?search=dust&version1=NIV&searchtype=all&limit=none&wholewordsonly=no&startnumber=76)
Surely, we even witness the truth of this :)
When our bodies decay after being buried, to dust we all return literally.
Ash Wednesday is also the start of the 40 day fasting in preparation for the LENT season, where we commemorate the death of Jesus on the cross in replacement of us.
He had to die and was sent to die, because we cannot fulfill the requirements of God. No matter what we do :) Really.....
That is why Jesus is called the Messiah, the annointed one :) He is the only perfect sacrifice to pay for all our sins
(Hey! This is already available in bookstores hehe :) Cool!)
I study in a Catholic university. And we were requested to attend a mass in celebration of the Ashe Wednesday.
My classmates know that I am not a Catholic Christian. And I don't know why, but they seem to be overinterested in that.
They always ask me if their ceremonies are okay with my "religion".
I don't even know why, but it seems like this picture above embodies what they think I think.
It seems like they think that I think the way their religion does a ceremony is wrong for me simply because it's not my religion. And I was like, "What?!"
I admit that I became uneasy because of their "branding" of me. It seems like I was an American in the midst of a Filipino army! I was defined and identified as "different".
(It's not that there is something really different about Americans for us Filipinos.
But we admit that the colonial mentality from our past still hunts us until now. We admire foreigners so much.
In the previous sentence of mine, I could use different nationalities and the effect would still be the same :) No discrimination or what. Just a cited example)
And for me, I don't really care what your or my religion is :)
Yeah. I boldly say that :)
Even the priest who gave the sermon in the mass agrees to me :) He says that religion does not matter; relationship with jesus christ does.
See :) Remind you, we (the priest and I) have a different religion :)
So it's not really an issue of which religion does this or that right. that will not be the one we will stand for before God.
The point is: do you have a relationship with Jesus Christ?
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