Rector’s Blog, Better Not Easier - The Rev. Philip DeVaul

Earlier this week, I looked dozens of people in the eyes and told them they were going to die. And nobody got mad at me for it. Some of them even said Amen. It's a day in the life of the church we call Ash Wednesday. It marks the beginning of Lent - a Christian season of fasting and penitence that leads up to Easter. The whole focus of the day is our mortality, and we spend our time together reflecting on the part death plays in our understanding of life. Halfway through the service, people come forward and kneel at the altar rail. This is the place where we usually give them communion - that spiritual food and drink that connects them to their eternal life with God. But on this strange day, as they kneel at that same rail, I dip my thumb into a little jar and coat it with ashes, then smudge those ashes in the sign of a cross in the middle of their foreheads. While I do it, I say directly to them, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." I do it over and over again. I get good at it - good at getting the right amount of ash on my thumb, on not getting ash all over my vestments, on saying the words as if I mean them, on making eye contact with those who want it. It becomes automatic. But one thing I am realizing each year I do this: It is not getting easier.