Tag Archives: Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday: You’re Gonna Die

I’m writing this a few days before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent in the Christian calendar. Most Ash Wednesday services give participants the opportunity to have ashes–a symbol of mortality–rubbed on their foreheads. The presiding minister says something like “Remember … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, Death | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Memento Mori

During Ash Wednesday services, the priest or minister makes a cross of ashes on the participant’s forehead and says, “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.” We begin the Lenten journey, in other words, by memento mori (Latin … Continue reading

Posted in Death, Spirit | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment