If death were fitting to our nature, we’d have no problem with it. Likewise, the separation of the soul and body signals the end of what was a human being. For instance, when you smash a clock, its gears and hands and frame are separated from each other, and we say that the clock is broken. First of all, we define death as the separation of soul and body, the division of the two component parts of the human being, and whenever component parts are separated, destruction takes place. But Christianity doesn’t allow for that kind of denial we must face death squarely and carefully decide how we are going to approach it. Yet many people would rather not think about it. We’ve caught the contagion of sin from our First Parents and it wreaks havoc on our whole human system-body, soul and spirit. Why does that happen? Why do we have to go back to dust? Very simple: because we’re sick. “Remember, O man, that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return.” Physically, we came from dust there was a time when we, like Adam, were no more than inanimate matter, and there will be a time when we die and our bodies are again resolved into the elements. The dirt is a reminder of our origins and our future.
Why do so many more come to this penitential rite than to Mass on Sundays or Holy Days of Obligation? Why do they present themselves for some blessed dirt and not for the Second Person of the Trinity incarnate in the host? Have they forgotten what the dirt means? Perhaps if they remembered, they’d stick around to adore their God. There’s much more elbow-room at the liturgy of the Eucharist than there was at the liturgy of the Word. The line to receive ashes is long and grueling, but after being branded with a sooty cross, a large percentage of the attendants hastily make their departure. Sadly, for many people, this is precisely what has happened to Ash Wednesday.Įvery year my parish is more crowded on Ash Wednesday than any other day of the year: families pack the pews while college students lean back against the outer walls. However, there’s a potential danger surrounding the sacramentals-the danger that we’ll forget about the spiritual significance and focus only on what we can see or touch.
This sacred “stuff” engages our bodies and at the same time signifies a higher, spiritual reality, so that our every facet is worshiping. As we are physical creatures in love with a God-made-flesh, the Church encourages the use of material objects to bring us closer to God. Rosary beads, holy water, incense, ashes, et cetera-the “sacramentals” used in prayer and liturgy give Catholicism much of its distinctive flavor.
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