1. It is apparent that Ash Wednesday is the only day you attend your burial while still alive. This is because of the words: “Remember you are dust and unto dust you shall return” are the exact words the preacher would use at your funeral.
2. It is the day in which the reality of the finite nature of life dawns on us. That we are clay and we shall return to the earth where moth, rust and decay shall be our friends eternally (Cf. Matthew 6:19) should actually make us humble.
3. It is a day which reminds us that some day, our expensive cars, wardrobe, gold, silver, diamonds, mansions, designers et al, would in the long run, be useless to us and or relished by others who did not labour for them.
4. It is a day that sets us thinking about the fleeting nature of the things we hold dear: Power, social status and knowledge (certificates). The reality of nakedness, fragility and futility stares us in the face.
5. It is a day we connect with the ancients like the people of Nineveh who obliged the Prophet Jonah, wore sackcloths and mourned in ashes (Jonah 3:6). A sign of total submission, self-abnegation and surrender to the will of God.
6. It is a day that salvific truths confront us. While the ash shouts laudly, “I am a sinner,” the cross made from the ash on our foreheads sings “I have a saviour.” These beautiful lines reveal the importance of our redemption in Christ (Cf. John 3:16).
7. It is a day in which the ash says, “You are a wayfarer.” Little wonder, our lives often pass away swiftly like grass and we return to clay. “Our span is 70 years or 80 for those who are strong” (Psalm 90:10) says the scripture.
8. It is a day we are urged to fast from mundane desires, pray ardently and mortify the flesh. It is a day which vain loss, gluttony and drunkenness as well as petty jealousy, backbiting and wickedness should give way to the life of the spirit. While reflecting on The Stations of the Cross, we are charged to be the modern Simon of Cyrene, Veronica, women of Jerusalem and Joseph of Arimathea
9. It is a day the Church gives us the chance to experience our death while we are alive. We are to imagine how our bodies would lay in the coffin and turn to ashes – how some we expect to mourn us would care less, and how those we sacrificed a lot for while alive might not even attend our funeral.
10. It is a day we need to reflect in-between now and the yonder. Therefore, bear the mark of salvation which the ash symbolises with trepidation yet with great expectation of the Easter Paschal feast – The foretaste of the eternal banquet prepared for all nations. May we humbly march through the Via Dolorosa in prayer, fasting and almsgiving through this holy season even as we reap its fruits through Christ Our Lord. Have a gracefilled Lenten Season!
• Rev. Fr. Justine John Dyikuk, a Catholic priest, is a lecturer of Mass Communication at the University of Jos, Nigeria; Senior Fellow, International Religious Freedom Policy, Religious Freedom Institute (RFI), Washington, D.C. and PhD Candidate, University of Strathclyde Glasgow, United Kingdo
