Father, in your hands is Life, in ours, so much ashes!
These ashes before you this morning, symbols of our wars that leave nothing but ruins,
of our insatiable selfishness that crushes all around it,
of the exploitation of nature that we plunder,
of our cult of money that goes up in smoke…
These ashes are also a reminder that we are made of clay, that we are ephemeral and that death will see us all return to the dust of the earth!
But it’s not sadness that is on our foreheads this morning, but hope.
For dust… is the seed of new life, and in asking you to bless these ashes, Father, we are making an act of faith,
that we ask you to accept, in the promise of Jesus your Son, He who is the Resurrection of us all, for ever.