Original Sin, Reconsidered

In the Catholic Church on Ash Wednesday, we receive ashes on our foreheads. What are those ashes?

Ash Wednesday is a great moment in the church's liturgical year. It marks the beginning of Lent - forty days to celebrate. It is an invitation to sing and dance, to be free, to celebrate life in the midst of suffering, sickness, and death. It is not so much about remembering that I am dust, and unto dust I shall return. It is certainly not about remembering that I am a miserable wretch, a sinner who is going to hell, and whatever I do I am doomed for my sinfulness, and poor Jesus had to come into this world to die for my sins.

My Jesus didn't die for my sins. My Jesus died as the greatest sign of love ever expressed for us. My Jesus died because he spent his time with social and religious outcasts, tax collectors, prostitutes, and sinners, promising them that the kingdom of God belonged to them.

Jesus died to give us the knowledge that God is within us and that when God created us, he put his breath into us. You and I are the breath of God.