Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
Christ Will Clean Your Ashes

Christ Will Clean Your Ashes

Last updated on: February 14, 2024 at 7:36 am by Kristin Wilson

Christ Will Clean Your Ashes 2024-02-14T07:36:18-05:00 Kristin Wilson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Well, it is that time of year again. We had Advent as our Church New Year and soon after a different New Year. Now we enter yet another time of year to restart. A time to enhance or perhaps even try to fix our spiritual lives. We can always use something to help us grow more deeply in love with our holy Triune God.

It is a time for introspection, sacrifice, deeper prayer, deeper love of neighbor, or enemy, repentance, or whatever else is needed in your spiritual life. It is time for Lent for Catholics and other Christians. It comes around every year and hopefully it is not a time for you to dwell on sad guilt but a time for love and forgiveness. Yes, a time for real, holy love and hope. A blessed Lent to you. Remember a good Lent brings a beautiful Easter.

My favorite hymn for Ash Wednesday is the song “Ashes”, or what I find myself calling “We Rise Again From Ashes” written by Catholic song writer Tom Conry (b 1951) in 1978. If you do not know the words to the song I’m sure you are far from alone. Here it is in its entirety or you to listen to.

Here is my brief reflection on the song.

I will reflect on the words. To be more specific I will reflect on the words that touch my heart bringing me closer to prayer, sacrifice, and our loving relationship with God. I will not be pulling it apart looking for a statement or two that questions theology. I’m dwelling on Christ’s love and our need to turn to Him and love Him in spite of our imperfections.

So…. In my humble opinion this is what the song wants to tell us, or maybe just remind us. Perhaps, as some people have, you will interpret the song differently and thus get more, or less from it. Maybe God wills each of us to comprehend it differently in order to help you advance in spiritual growth.

1. We rise again from ashes,
from the good we’ve failed to do.
We rise again from ashes,
to create ourselves anew.
If all our world is ashes,
then must our lives be true,
an offering of ashes,
an offering to you.

2. We offer you our failures,
we offer you attempts,
the gifts not fully given,
the dreams not fully dreamt.
Give our stumblings direction,
give our vision wider view,
an offering of ashes,
an offering to you.

“We rise again from ashes” seems to mean rising to now do what good we should have done. That means we make a change in our lives with the help of God and because we love God. Creating our lives anew is about our ongoing deepening love. We turn to God and are cleaned by Him. We seek to do only and always His will. Easier said than done of course. When we offer our ashes we are coming to God in humility. We are giving our sins to God and admitting them to Him and ourselves so He may cleanse us of our sins. We do this because we desire change.

It seems to me the first two sections of the song fit well with the sacrament of reconciliation, a great part of Lent if it is not already a part of your common practice.

3. Then rise again from ashes,
let healing come to pain,
though spring has turned to winter,
and sunshine turned to rain,
the rain we’ll use for growing
to create the world anew
from an offering of ashes,
an offering to you.

The third section reminds me that we all suffer, as did Jesus. It makes me think of the saying: “Without Crucifixion there can be no Resurrection.”

The verse in this section(number three) also talks about creating the world anew. While we serve God, we are serving those in need. We are making a difference in the world, with the help of God, and because we love God so very much, though He loves us more.

4. Thanks be to the Father,
who made us like himself.

Thanks be to the Son,
who saved us by his death.

Thanks be to the Spirit
who creates the world anew
from an offering of ashes,
an offering to you.

In the fourth section of the hymn we are reminded that our God is a Triune God. We bless ourselves, indeed we were baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is easy to bless ourselves so often or quickly during prayer that we don’t think about what we are doing or saying.

Do I think about who indeed we are praying to? Will I ask Him to clean my ashes and make me the holy person he wants all of his children to be?

What changes am I going to make so that I can seek to do the will of God and grow ever more deeply in love with our creator and redeemer?

General Christian

Previous Post

February 12, 2024

Popes and Councils of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Centuries HOARATS

Next Post

February 16, 2024 Popes and Councils of the 5th, 6th and 7th Centuries HOARATS

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 1889 abortion adoption Advent After Life Angles apologetics Art Awards BCCT bible book review books business Carmelite Catechetics Catholic Actors catholic authors Catholic Bard Catholic Faith Catholic List Catholic Rigorous Vortex Christian Authors Christmas church teaching civil conversation coronavirus Current Events death Different Religions Divine Mercy Easter Education encouragment Entertainment Eucharist Evangelization Event faith Family Life famous people feast day food Fun Stuff Global Church God guest post Harry Potter healing Heck of a Ride Around the Sun history holiday Holy Family Holy Orders Holy Spirit Holy Week hope Humor Interview Ireland Jesus kindle unlimited reflections Last Things Lecto Divina with Kristin Lent Lent/Easter liturgy love marriage Mary Meet the Author Mission Month in Advance Movie Review Movies Movies of the Month Music Narrative Older Writings patheos authors personal Philosophy podcasts poetry political Politics pope prayer Private Revelation pro-life public domain Quotes racial relations racism reflection Religious Life Saints science Scriptural Meditation social justice Social Media spirituality suffering supernatural theology Topics Travel Trivia Tweeting to the Choir Uncategorized universal church Vatican virtue war Week in Review women world religions writing Writing Write Now

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which creature deceived Eve into eating the forbidden fruit?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Lion Frog Raven Serpent

Books by This Author Books by Catholic Bard

See All Titles »