{"id":12152,"date":"2025-03-05T11:36:12","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T16:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aoh.com\/?p=12152"},"modified":"2025-03-05T11:36:22","modified_gmt":"2025-03-05T16:36:22","slug":"ash-wednesday-reflection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aoh.com\/2025\/03\/05\/ash-wednesday-reflection\/","title":{"rendered":"Ash Wednesday Reflection"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-medium\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"300\" height=\"186\" src=\"https:\/\/aoh.com\/gobansaer\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Ash-Wednesday-300x186.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12153\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aoh.com\/gobansaer\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Ash-Wednesday-300x186.jpg 300w, https:\/\/aoh.com\/gobansaer\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Ash-Wednesday.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of&nbsp;Lent.&nbsp;&nbsp; Whether we attend mass or a scripture service, our foreheads will be marked with ashes as a sign of repentance.&nbsp; Some might question us when they see the cross on our foreheads, \u201cDid you remember to wash up this morning when you got up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ash Wednesday is a day to remember that we are God\u2019s creation, made from the dust of the Earth. This season of Lent might I challenge each one of us, to see the beauty and awesomeness of God\u2019s creation.&nbsp; This Ash Wednesday also reminds us that it is good to remember that we are God\u2019s Beloved. We might hear one of these statements as the ashes are rubbed on our heads:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.<br>Remember you are dust and to dust you will return.<br>Repent and believe the Good news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So on Ash Wednesday, we receive the ashes on our heads with a sense of sorrow for our shortcomings, but also with a sense of hope. With God\u2019s grace we can repent and continue on our road of life together.<\/p>\n<div class = 'socialMediaOnEveryPost'><div id=\"sgmbShare1-1\" class=\"sgmbShare jssocials-theme-classic sgmbWidget1-1\"><\/div><div class=\"dropdownWrapper dropdownWrapper1 dropdownWrapper-for-widget \" id=\"dropdownWrapper-for-widget\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"dropdownLabel\" id=\"dropdownLabel-share-list\"><span class=\"sgmbButtonListLabel1\">Share List<\/span><\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"dropdownPanel dropdownPanel1-1\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><script>  SGMB_URL = \"https:\/\/aoh.com\/gobansaer\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-builder\/\"; jQuery(\".dropdownWrapper\").hide(); SGMB_GOOGLE_ACOUNT = \"\"; <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n\t\tjQuery(document).ready(function($){var widget = new SGMBWidget();widget.show({\"id\":\"1\",\"title\":\"Default\",\"options\":{\"currentUrl\":\"1\",\"url\":\"\",\"shareText\":\"\",\"fontSize\":\"10\",\"betweenButtons\":\"1px\",\"theme\":\"classic\",\"sgmbButtonsPosition\":\"bottomRight\",\"socialTheme\":\"classic\",\"icon\":\"default\",\"buttonsPanelEffect\":\"No Effect\",\"buttonsEffect\":\"No Effect\",\"iconsEffect\":\"No Effect\",\"buttons\":\"{\\\"facebook\\\":{\\\"label\\\":\\\"Share\\\",\\\"icon\\\":\\\"default-facebook\\\"},\\\"twitter\\\":{\\\"label\\\":\\\"Tweet\\\",\\\"icon\\\":\\\"default-twitter\\\",\\\"via\\\":\\\"\\\",\\\"hashtags\\\":\\\"\\\"},\\\"googleplus\\\":{\\\"label\\\":\\\"+1\\\",\\\"icon\\\":\\\"default-googleplus\\\"},\\\"email\\\":{\\\"label\\\":\\\"E-mail\\\",\\\"icon\\\":\\\"default-email\\\"}}\",\"roundButton\":\"\",\"showLabels\":\"on\",\"showCounts\":\"\",\"showCenter\":\"\",\"showButtonsAsList\":\"\",\"sgmbDropdownColor\":\"\",\"sgmbDropdownLabelFontSize\":\"14\",\"sgmbDropdownLabelColor\":\"\",\"showButtonsOnEveryPost\":\"on\",\"selectedOrExcluded\":\"\",\"showButtonsOnEveryPage\":\"\",\"textOnEveryPost\":\"\",\"showButtonsOnCustomPost\":\"\",\"textOnCustomPost\":\"\",\"showButtonsOnMobileDirect\":\"on\",\"showButtonsOnDesktopDirect\":\"on\",\"sgmbSelectedPages\":[\"\"],\"sgmbExcludedPosts\":[\"\"],\"sgmbSelectedCustomPosts\":[],\"showButtonsInPopup\":\"\",\"titleOfPopup\":\"\",\"descriptionOfPopup\":\"\",\"showPopupOnLoad\":\"\",\"showPopupOnScroll\":\"\",\"showPopupOnExit\":\"\",\"openSecondsOfPopup\":\"\",\"googleAnaliticsAccount\":\"\"},\"buttonOptions\":{\"facebook\":{\"label\":\"Share\",\"icon\":\"default-facebook\"},\"twitter\":{\"label\":\"Tweet\",\"icon\":\"default-twitter\",\"via\":\"\",\"hashtags\":\"\"},\"googleplus\":{\"label\":\"+1\",\"icon\":\"default-googleplus\"},\"email\":{\"label\":\"E-mail\",\"icon\":\"default-email\"}},\"button\":[\"facebook\",\"twitter\",\"googleplus\",\"email\"]}, 1, '', 'https:\/\/aoh.com\/gobansaer\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Ash-Wednesday.jpg', '', 'https:\/\/aoh.com\/2025\/03\/05\/ash-wednesday-reflection\/'); });<\/script><\/div><script> jQuery(\".socialMediaOnEveryPost\").addClass(\"sgmb-right\") <\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of&nbsp;Lent.&nbsp;&nbsp; Whether we attend mass or a scripture service, our foreheads will be marked with ashes as a sign of repentance.&nbsp; Some might question us [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":12153,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/aoh.com\/gobansaer\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Ash-Wednesday.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"James (Jim) T Russell","author_link":"https:\/\/aoh.com\/author\/jimrussell\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aoh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12152"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aoh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aoh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aoh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/60"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aoh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12152"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/aoh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12154,"href":"https:\/\/aoh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12152\/revisions\/12154"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aoh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aoh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aoh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aoh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}