About Ashes - I Have to Ash a Question

​Here’s a good question, why do we do what we do with the ashes? Well, for that answer, we have to step into the Wayback Machine and travel back to the Old Testament era. In Old Testament times wearing ashes – which were dirt remains left behind after something was burned or offered up – had two key symbolisms. When worn on person’s face, ashes were, firstly, a sign of man’s humility and mortality and secondly, a sign of one’s repentance for his sins. Thus, when a person receives ashes on Ash Wednesday, they are administered in a visible place (the forehead) in the form of a cross; as they are administered the Priest (or Deacon or extraordinary minister) commonly says the words, “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” This admonition upon receiving ashes serves to remind us of our mortality, our need for humility and the truth that one day we will, each of us, have to stand before God to answer for our lives. Thus, it is time to repent, or as the old song says, time to “straighten up and fly right.”