ASH Wednesday: Start of LENT

Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared on Fox breaking news on March. 5, 2025 with a black cross marked on his forehead. Some folks who aren’t Catholics question the black mark. The black cross symbolizes the start of Ash Wednesday, reminding people they are ephemeral and will not stay on earth forever.

Even grocery stores have a Lenten special price for fish, since Wednesday and Friday are days of abstinence; eating meat is not allowed.

Ash Wednesday started in this Bible passage:
Genesis 2:7-9 New International Version (NIV)
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.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent in the Christian liturgical calendar. It reminds folks that they will return to dust and their lives on earth are temporary. Nobody escapes earth alive except for astronauts in a temporary space of time but they return back to earth and are subject to decay.

Ash Wednesday tell us we are mortals, given a short time to experience human life and we need to repent our faults and errors.

Ash Wednesday is the application of ashes on the foreheads of the faithful. These ashes are from the burned palms used in the previous year's Palm Sunday celebrations, symbolizing the cyclical nature of the Christian faith.

Ash Wednesday is call for introspection and humility. The ashes, applied in the shape of a cross, is a sign of penance and contrition, and a communal expression of faith.

Believers are called to reflect on their lives, acknowledging the transient nature of earthly existence and the eternal significance of their spiritual journey.

The Lenten season, begins with Ash Wednesday, is a period of 40 days marked by fasting, prayer, and almsgiving, emulating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert.

Ash Wednesday is for personal transformation , a day of contrasts, where the darkness of ashes gives way to the light of redemption.

Ash Wednesday, is as a day of reflection and penance by the examination of conscience and confession. The symbolic use of ashes, the day serves as a powerful reminder how fleeting life is and the enduring hope found in the promise of redemption and eternal life.

Whether you are the richest man with billions in the bank, most powerful man, sexiest man or woman alive, a genius, highly educated with tons of awards and PhD, a beauty queen, a celebrity laden with Oscars & Emmy, the simple truth is dust you are and to dust you shall return. Be kind because you’re not superior to anyone.

God loves dust for He breathed life into a handful of dust to become a human being with all its senses and power.

“Remember you are dust and to dust you will return.” Ecclesiastes 3:20