Dust to Dust

Today we begin Lent with Ash Wednesday. I will use my blog to post some of my past blogs and revisit our thinking during this solemn time of reflection. Though this is an explicitly Christian season there are also important Jewish holidays.

The Body:

The first time I understood that the body is only a carcass was when I buried my cat, Katya. She had been a wonderful cat, and we had no idea she had an enlarged heart. Eventually she died of heart failure. We buried her under the birch tree in our yard at Blue Jay Court and even prayed an abbreviated version of the Burial Service in the Book of Common Prayer.  

All return to dust:

This was also when I first understood that we will all return to dust. There was no casket. There was no fancy lining—only the body. I had learned the spiritual part concerning the body long before I experienced the physical part. I knew about the smudges of the ashes and the use of palms, but it was her little body that took me by surprise. We are made of earth and we must return to the earth.

The potter and the clay:

I have worked with clay before and I know how pliable it can be and I also know that when it begins to dry it is committed to the shape that has been formed. After the clay dries it is too late to change its shape. I feel hardened right now, but in a season I hope to feel more like clay. The moment when your mind and body is ready to be shaped is the moment when you are an empty vessel.

The last Alleluia:

“We are dust, and unto dust we shall return. We go down to the dust; yet even at the grave we make our song: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.”