To Dust We Shall Return

We begin the Lenten Season by receiving ashes: "You are dust, and to dust you shall return" (cf. Gen 3:19).  The dust sprinkled on our heads brings us back to earth; it reminds us that we are dust and to dust we shall return.  We are weak, frail and mortal.  Centuries and millennia pass and we come and go; before the immensity of galaxies and space, we are nothing.  We are dust in the universe.

-- Homily of His Holiness Pope Francis, Basilica of Santa Sabina, Ash Wednesday, 26 February 2020