Episode Description
By Fr. Thomas G. Weinandy.
The second Creation story in the Book of Genesis states that "the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being." Although man was formed bodily from the dust of the earth, it was by God's divine breath that he became a living being. This conjoining of the dust of the earth and the divine breath is what made man a rational animal. The whole man, body and soul, is created in the image and likeness of God.
Although man was created good along with the rest of Creation, he, in his rationality, had free will. It's the sinful use of that free will, eating of the fruit in the middle of the garden, that Adam and Eve lost their innocence and tarnished their divine image. Because of their sin, God informed Adam: "In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till your return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust and to dust you shall return."
These passages are the Scriptural and theological basis for Ash Wednesday – the initiatory day that begins the season of Lent. On this day, our foreheads are signed with ashes from the previous year's palms. Upon receiving the cruciform sign, the priest declares: "Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return." We are sinful children of Adam, and so, like him, we will return to dust.
Now, there is a rather humorous oddity here. Growing up, I and all my Catholic classmates loved Ash Wednesday. We all hoped that the priest would make a huge Sign of the Cross on our foreheads with so much ash that it would last the entire day. We were proud of our ashes and, if we had to wash our faces, we would make sure that we did not wash our foreheads – the ashes were sacrosanct.
But it is not only children who are proud of their ashes, but adults also. They, too, having received their ashes, go to work or back home, proudly wearing their ashes for all to see.
The irony is that what is supposed to be a sign of sinfulness, repentance, and humility became a badge of pride. But I do not think that this is entirely bad, for we are proudly bearing witness to the world that all human beings are Adam's sinful children, all of whom are in need of redemption.
Our ashes became billboards of evangelization – a means of proclaiming the Gospel. Only in and through Jesus Christ can the ashes of sin and death be washed and wiped away. Thus, Ash Wednesday contains within it a looking forward to Holy Week and Easter. Only through Jesus' sacrificial death could our sins be forgiven and only in His Resurrection comes newness of life.
St. Paul was never signed with ashes, but he, too, recognized that we were of the sinful race of Adam in need of being re-created. In condemning those who denied a resurrection, he forthrightly declared its soteriological importance.
Our first body may have become perishable, but that is not now the case.
Thus, it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being;" the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not spiritual which is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual. The first man was of dust, so are those who are of the dust. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall bear the image of the man of heaven. (1Corinthians 15:45-47)
God breathed his life-giving breath into the first Adam, but the risen Jesus, the second Adam, has now breathed into the man of dust his life-giving spirit, thus making him heavenly. We may have been born in the image of the man of dust, but now we have been born anew in the image and likeness of the man of heaven. "For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive." We have become new creations in Christ.
Paul concludes that when the risen Jesus comes at the end of time we will be transform...
The second Creation story in the Book of Genesis states that "the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being." Although man was formed bodily from the dust of the earth, it was by God's divine breath that he became a living being. This conjoining of the dust of the earth and the divine breath is what made man a rational animal. The whole man, body and soul, is created in the image and likeness of God.
Although man was created good along with the rest of Creation, he, in his rationality, had free will. It's the sinful use of that free will, eating of the fruit in the middle of the garden, that Adam and Eve lost their innocence and tarnished their divine image. Because of their sin, God informed Adam: "In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till your return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust and to dust you shall return."
These passages are the Scriptural and theological basis for Ash Wednesday – the initiatory day that begins the season of Lent. On this day, our foreheads are signed with ashes from the previous year's palms. Upon receiving the cruciform sign, the priest declares: "Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return." We are sinful children of Adam, and so, like him, we will return to dust.
Now, there is a rather humorous oddity here. Growing up, I and all my Catholic classmates loved Ash Wednesday. We all hoped that the priest would make a huge Sign of the Cross on our foreheads with so much ash that it would last the entire day. We were proud of our ashes and, if we had to wash our faces, we would make sure that we did not wash our foreheads – the ashes were sacrosanct.
But it is not only children who are proud of their ashes, but adults also. They, too, having received their ashes, go to work or back home, proudly wearing their ashes for all to see.
The irony is that what is supposed to be a sign of sinfulness, repentance, and humility became a badge of pride. But I do not think that this is entirely bad, for we are proudly bearing witness to the world that all human beings are Adam's sinful children, all of whom are in need of redemption.
Our ashes became billboards of evangelization – a means of proclaiming the Gospel. Only in and through Jesus Christ can the ashes of sin and death be washed and wiped away. Thus, Ash Wednesday contains within it a looking forward to Holy Week and Easter. Only through Jesus' sacrificial death could our sins be forgiven and only in His Resurrection comes newness of life.
St. Paul was never signed with ashes, but he, too, recognized that we were of the sinful race of Adam in need of being re-created. In condemning those who denied a resurrection, he forthrightly declared its soteriological importance.
Our first body may have become perishable, but that is not now the case.
Thus, it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being;" the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not spiritual which is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual. The first man was of dust, so are those who are of the dust. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall bear the image of the man of heaven. (1Corinthians 15:45-47)
God breathed his life-giving breath into the first Adam, but the risen Jesus, the second Adam, has now breathed into the man of dust his life-giving spirit, thus making him heavenly. We may have been born in the image of the man of dust, but now we have been born anew in the image and likeness of the man of heaven. "For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive." We have become new creations in Christ.
Paul concludes that when the risen Jesus comes at the end of time we will be transform...