NB--This is a slightly edited repeat of a post I regularly make on Ash Wednesday.
I recently enjoyed a very special cigar as I was working my way through a demanding text. I was alone and thought it a good day to dive into my reserve. That cigar was a Tatuaje robusto, one of the few remaining of a box Amy had given to me, and it had aged for four years. It was a thoroughly pleasant and creamy smoke. In fact, I delighted in this cigar so much, that I closed the book and just enjoyed the experience of the taste, the smell, and watching the smoke curl toward the ceiling and fill the room with its aroma. It tasted of heavy cream, cinnamon, clove, and a slight hint of pepper. The room note reminded me of incense. So, I just sat back and relaxed, and tried to make it last as long as possible.
Unfortunately, as with all good cigars, at the end of the hour there was just a pile of ash left in the tray, and a memory of that smoke upon my taste buds. I was sorely tempted to open the box and smoke another, realized that would not be a wise decision, and looked with a bit of melancholy at the remains of what had been a great cigar, and was now just a memory. This is the fate of all cigars. It does not matter how expensive, how great, how cheap, or how terrible, eventually all of them become just a pile of ash. They burn up, they burn out, and they are no more than a memory.
Is that not the lesson of Ash Wednesday? We are all destined to be just like that great cigar. No matter our station in life, rich/poor, wise/foolish, Republican/Democrat, beautiful/homely, or any other label, we are all destined to become nothing but a pile of ash. We will die. This is not because we are “used up”, but because of the effects of Sin. As the Good Book sayeth, “The wages of sin is death”, and we all get paid.
However, this is what makes the Christian faith different; we have hope beyond the “ashiness” of our existence. Because of Christ, his Incarnation, Crucifixion, and Resurrection, we have the promise that this mortal body, though used up and ashy, will be raised and made new. Because of Christ, death is not the end, and those who are found in Him will be raised like him.
On this day, when we remember our mortality, our common destiny to be put a pile of ash, let us repent and return to the Lord who can, and will, raise these piles of ash to new life.
May you have blessed Ash Wednesday.
