Wednesday, 9 a.m., by the office coffee machine. A coworker keeps staring at your forehead and finally hands you a tissue: “You’ve got something, right there.” You explain that no, it’s on purpose, you’ve just come from the Ash Wednesday service. An Ash Wednesday emoji would have settled that conversation in a second.
The day opens Lent, forty days on the road to Easter. Its date moves every year, anywhere between February 4 and March 10, because it depends on the date of Easter. The ashes don’t come from just anywhere: they’re made by burning the palms blessed the previous Palm Sunday, the ones tucked behind the crucifix or the kitchen calendar. The priest marks them on your forehead, or sprinkles them on your head, saying “Repent, and believe in the Gospel,” or the older words: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” It’s also a day of fasting and abstinence, which explains the rather austere soup at dinner.
Nothing on the keyboard says any of this. Picture a forehead marked with a gray cross, a small heap of ashes, a palm frond 🌿 slowly burning. Understated, of course: this is the start of Lent, not a county fair. If you have an idea that fits in a few strokes, draw it before next Ash Wednesday comes around.
Amen !by AI Generator
Amen !by AI Generator
This post is also available in: Français (French) Italiano (Italian) Español (Spanish) Português (Portuguese (Brazil))
Leave a Reply