Ash Wednesday

Today I had the privilege of attending a catholic funeral. It was the funeral of the 89-year-old mother of the professor that my husband works for. I say the privilege because it was one of the most beautiful funeral services I have ever attended. It began with the singing of "Ave Maria" by a woman while her husband played on the classical guitar. It was also an Ash Wednesday service because, well...it landed on Ash Wednesday. When my husband and I went up to get the ashes painted on our foreheads in the shape of a cross, and as I could see all those around me with the painting on their faces, it reminded me of the Holocaust. For two reasons, Ash Wednesday and Lent reminds me of the Jewish people. First, the visual appearance of the ashes, reminds me of the ashes of those who lost their lives in the Holocaust. For some reason, ashes seem to always bring about the image of the Holocaust victims. Second, it is the one day where Christians openly display an outward sign of their faith for all the world to see. Just as the star of David was worn by the Jews to show their faith, we wear our crosses of ashes to show to whom we belong. Just as I'm sure the Jews wore their sign of faith proudly and unashamed, so do Christians wear their sign of faith on Ash Wednesday.

Because my husband attends a Catholic university, I figured that most people would know what the cross of ashes on his forehead would signify, I did not assume that the students at my public university would take notice of my cross; I thought perhaps they would comment that I had something on my forehead and motion to wipe it away. What I did not expect, and what I was very pleasantly surprised to find, was that as soon as I boarded the shuttle for campus, three people mentioned that they would also be taking the cross of ashes later in the day. The conversation then turned into a sharing of what each person was going to give up during the Lent season. I was very much blessed today by both the Ash Wednesday service and by the small, somewhat insignificant, conversation on the shuttle; they both brought me joy and a sense of fellowship with fellow Christians.

As Christians, we should wear our crosses each day for all to see. I am not saying that we should draw crosses in ash on our foreheads each morning in addition to brushing our teeth and applying make-up, rather as Christians, we should show others to whom we belong no matter what day of the year or Church calendar.