VIDEOS: Memento, homo, quia pulvis est, et in pulverem revertetur

Ed. here. I don't believe we've ever posted anything special on Ash Wednesday, but the spread of the corona virus, the political and economic turmoil in virtually every country, and the crisis in the Church makes us think that today might be a good day to get serious about the frailty of life and the necessity of thinking about the Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Hell and Heaven*.

In 1091 Pope Urban II ordered that the blessed ashes should be received by all the faithful on Ash Wednesday as a reminder of the certainty of death and the necessity of penance. Nobles and peasants, kings and common people, all participated in the same penitential ceremony that Catholics undergo today. For at least 1600 years Catholics have heard the same words, quoted from God's words to Adam on that first Ash Wednesday upon this earth, telling Adam of the consequences of his sin: "Memento, homo, quia pulvis est, et in pulverem revertetur" (Genesis 3:19, DRV). "Remember man, that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return."

*Here, in four videos, is "Death, Judgment, Hell and Heaven", the mission preached by Father Isaac Relyea at Holy Face of Jesus in Saint Catharines ON last week. May God bless you as you watch it.