A Lenten Word - Dust

Homily for Ash Wednesday

“The LORD God formed the man out of the dust of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7).

“Remember, you are dust and unto dust you shall return.” (Liturgy of Ash Wednesday)

Our Lenten word for today is the word “dust.” In chapter two of the book of Genesis, we are told that God formed human beings out of the dust of the ground. The Latin word for ground is “humus,” which is the root word of humble or humility. But notice that we are made of the dust of that ground. In other words, we are derived from the humblest of soils, veritable dust that is so light that it sails through the air and eventually lands on our furnishings and our carpeting. A grain of dust is a grain of almost nothing.

Thomas Merton wrote: “The cross, with which the ashes are traced upon us, is the sign of Christ’s victory over death. While we are told that we will return to the dust when we die, we are not to take the words as a quasi-form of a kind of “sacramental of death.” Sacraments and sacramentals the store upon us God’s grace, and we know that grace is God’s life that flows within us. Quite literally, Ash Wednesday reminds us of our humble beginnings while also reminding us that we were meant for eternal life.

From the very first day of Lent, we are reminded that our journey through the desert is a quest for life. This is a time to turn away from sin, the veritable opposite of grace. It is God’s grace that we seek for these next forty days. Each penance, each prayer, and each charitable act during this season becomes an occasion to embrace God’s life within us. As the prophet Zechariah reminds us: “Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you” (Zechariah 1:3).