Homily 26.2.23 by Frank Brennan 6

On Wednesday, we started our 40 day Lenten observance in preparation for Easter. The palms from last year’s Palm Sunday had been burnt. The ashes were blessed and applied to our foreheads. Nowadays, the priest often says, ‘Repent, and believe in the Gospel.’ I prefer the old time formula: ‘Remember that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return.’ That old time formula had a great resonance for me this year, it being the first Ash Wednesday since the death of both my parents. We have placed their ashes together, side by side, in the columbarium at their old parish church. For 90 years and more, both Mum and Dad every Ash Wednesday approached the altar to hear those words proclaimed in Latin and in English: ‘Remember that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return.’ And now they have returned. For each of us, our turn will come.