Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.

A BENEDICTINE MONK ONCE TOLD ME, “SO LONG AS WE ARE IN THE DUST, DO WE NOT SEE THE FACE OF THE BELOVED?

ARE WE TO UNDERSTAND THAT AS LONG AS WE ARE IN THE BODIES OF DUST, WE CANNOT SEE OUR BELOVED ONE?

PERHAPS, BUT ANOTHER MEANING IS MORE RELATED TO A CHORE OF OUR DAILY LIVES, AND THAT IS OUR ETERNAL WAR ON DIRT AND DUST.

BEING THE “FELIX” OF THE CHARACTER FROM “THE ODD COUPLE”, I VALUE A CLEAN DESK, HOUSE, AND LIFE.

EACH TIME I OR WE, ARE “IN THE DUST”, IS THERE THE CHANCE WE DO NOT SEE THE FACE OF OUR FAMILY MEMBERS AND FRIENDS, OR EXPERIENCE THE PRESENCE OF OUR BELOVED GOD?

DO WE GET SO LOST OR DISTRACTED IN THE “DUST” OF OUR WORK, PROJECTS, OR TASKS THAT WE FAIL TO SEE OR SENSE THE PRESENCE OF OUR BELOVED GOD?

HOW DO WE FIND THAT OFTEN ELUSIVE BALANCE OF WHAT IS ESSENTIAL OR VALUED, BETWEEN A FINISHED PAPER, WORK PROJECT OR HOUSE CLEANING VERSUS THE PEOPLE IN OUR LIVES?

A NUN FRIEND ONCE TOLD ME THAT PERHAPS A SURPRISE IN HEAVEN WILL BE THAT GOD WILL NOT MIND A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF DISORDER AND DUST.

SISTER MONICA RELATED AN OLD JEWISH STORY ABOUT WHY GOD STOPPPED THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE TOWER OF BABEL.

IT SEEMS THAT AS THE TOWER GREW DRAMATICALLY IN HEIGHT, THE WORK BECAME MORE DIFFICULT AND DANGEROUS.

SADLY, THE OVERSEERS OF THE CONSTRUCTION WERE ANGRIER IF AN EXPERSIVELY MADE BRICK WAS DAMAGED, THAN IF A WORKER FELL TO THEIR DEATH. ANYONE WHO DAMAGED A BRICK WAS FINED OR PUNISHED PHYSICALLY.

MATERIALS BECAME MORE VALUED THAN HUMAN BEINGS.

GOD WAS SO SADDENED BY THIS BEHAVIOR THAT GOD ORDERED A HALT ON THE TOWER’S CONSTRUCTION.

IT IS TRUE THAT THE TOOLS OR THE MATERIALS SUCH AS BRICKS DEMAND, STRIDENTLY AT TIMES, OUR ATTENTION, AND EVEN TO THE POINT OF OUR FORGETTING THE FACES AND CONCERNS OF OTHER PEOPLE.

MAY WE DURING THIS LENT OF 2024, MAKE IT POSSIBLE TO SEE THE FACE OF THE BELOVED WITH WHOM WE SHARE THIS PLANET.

HAVING RECEIVED OUR ASHES THIS LENT, MAY WE REMEMBER THAT JESUS WROTE IN THE DUST TO TEACH AND TO HEAL.

HOW DO WE FIND JESUS’ HEALING OF OUR OWN BLINDNESS TO WHAT AND WHO IS TRULY IMPORTANT?

THAT OLD SONG, “LET IT BE”, CAN MEAN THAT WE ARE HEALED AND FREED FROM OUR OFTEN-SELF-INFLICTED DEMANDS THAT MAKE A LIFE A BURDEN TO OURSELEVES AND OTHERS.

MAY WE ALL “LET IT BE” TO FIND A LIFE THAT IS A DELIGHT AS WE SEE THAT FACE OF THE BELOVED.

Rev. Richard E. Long
Newman Center, Brooklyn College