Ash Wednesday: Beginning our Lenten journey

Ashes service today at 9:00 AM; Masses at noon and 7:00 PM
You thumbed grit
into my furrowed brow,
marking me
with the sign of mortality,
with the dust of last year’s palms.
The cross you traced
seared smudged skin,
and I recalled
other ashes
etched
into my heart
by those who loved too little
or not at all.
A poem by Elizabeth-Anne Vanek