Wednesday of Ashes

Once a year, on a Wednesday, we mix ashes with oil. We light candles and confess to one another and to God that we have sinned by what we have done and what we have left undone. We tell the truth. We smear the ashes on our foreheads and together acknowledge the single reality upon which everyone agrees: “Remember that you are dust and to dust you will return.” It’s the only thing we know for sure: we are going to die. But grace teaches us to ask the most important question: "then what?"