The way that ashes know...

                    The ashes we receive on Ash Wednesday 

                        are made by burning palm branches 

                                      from last Palm Sunday.

 

THE WAY THAT ASHES KNOW

 

A Blessing for Ash Wednesday

 

So let the ashes come

as beginning

and not as end;

the first sign

but not the final.

 

Let them rest upon you

as invocation and invitation,

and then let them take you

the way that ashes know

to go.

 

May they mark you

with the memory of fire

and of the life

that came before the burning:

the life that rises and returns

and finds its way again.

 

See what shimmers

amid their darkness,

what endures

within their dust.

 

See how they draw us

toward the mystery

that will consume

but not destroy,

that will blossom

from the blazing,

that will scorch us

with its joy.

 

—Jan Richardson

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