Ash Wednesday Quotes

• Ash Wednesday is full of joy...The source of all sorrow is the illusion that of ourselves we are anything but dust.

  Thomas Merton

  Dust, Joy, Sorrow

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• Lent comes providentially to reawaken us, to shake us from our lethargy.

  Pope Francis

  Lethargy, Lenten, Shakes

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• I'm a sinner. I don't always love God as strongly as I could or as directly as I should. Ash Wednesday reminds me that it is only through God that I have life; He gave it to me. God forgives. He loves. And He gives this sinner a second chance. Put simply: my God kicks ash.

  Mark Hart

  Second Chance, Giving, Ashes

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• Nevertheless, the liturgy of Ash Wednesday is not focussed on the sinfulness of the penitent but on the mercy of God. The question of sinfulness is raised precisely because this is a day of mercy, and the just do not need a savior.

  Thomas Merton

  Mercy Of God, Needs, Ashes

  Thomas Merton (1976). “Meditations on liturgy”

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• Even the darkest moments of the liturgy are filled with joy, and Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the lenten fast, is a day of happiness, a Christian feast.

  Thomas Merton

  Christian, Joy, Ashes

  Thomas Merton (2010). “Seasons of Celebration”, p.100, Macmillan

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• No place of grace for those who avoid the Face. No time to rejoice for those who walk among noise and deny the Voice.

  T. S. Eliot

  Faith, Inspiration, Voice

  T.S. Eliot (2010). “The Waste Land and Other Poems”, p.46, Faber & Faber

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• The Passion of the Christ opened up on Ash Wednesday, had a Good Friday.

  Billy Crystal

  Friday, Passion, Ashes

  "The 76th Annual Academy Awards", www.imdb.com. 2004.

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• Teach us to care and not to care

  T. S. Eliot

  Care, Teach

  "Ash-Wednesday" l. 34 (1930)

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• Because these wings are no longer wings to fly But merely vans to beat the air The air which is now thoroughly small and dry Smaller and dryer than the will Teach us to care and not to care Teach us to sit still

  T. S. Eliot

  Air, Wings, Dry

  "Ash-Wednesday" l. 34 (1930)

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• Dying was just an extended version of Ash Wednesday.

  Don DeLillo

  Death, Dying, Ashes

  Don DeLillo (2015). “Underworld: Picador Classic”, p.242, Pan Macmillan

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• Since the Icelandic volcano obviously needs a virgin sacrifice and the Catholic Church obviously needs new leadership the Pope must volunteer to jump in the volcano. Pontiff, don't think of it as endorsing paganism, think of it as supersizing Ash Wednesday.

  Bill Maher

  Sacrifice, Thinking, Volcanoes

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