Ash Wednesday, which falls forty-six days before Easter, marks the beginning of the Lenten season. The churches of the Anglican Communion, as well as some other Protestant churches observe Ash Wednesday. Eastern Rite churches, however, do not observe Ash Wednesday, their Lent begins on the preceding Monday.
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Lenten Season is a period of self-observation and fasting on worldly ‘matters’. It is also a time to contemplate on our life in the physical. From Ashes to Ashes, from Dust to Dust.
The body is our temporary home and exists with only one reason. We may lead a full and busy life in the physical, however, the truth is that our life has no meaning beyond what our Souls’ journey brings to it. Our body and all our earthly ‘accomplishments’ return to dust where they came from. If we only focus on what the physical can provide us we waste our valuable and limited time on ‘ashes and dust’.
I am perfectly aware, how challenging it is sometimes to understand that we are not in ‘flash and blood’ to be successful, in love, build a house, or to raise children. The body and all its functions are solely to provide a ‘carriage’ or a means of transportation for our soul to remember and experience itself before returning to its Home to the Heart of God.
Contemplation on Ash Wednesday, the first day of the Lenten Season, marks the beginning of a time of withdrawal from the world. The Lenten Season offers us the opportunity to observe our life in terms of the Soul’s journey. By withdrawing from our worldly attachments and fasting on our worldly desires, we allow our souls to show us what it is here to experience using this particular body and psyche.
