Ashes

March 1, 2022

Ashes appeared again on campus yesterday. 

As the CAS Student Advisory Board members reminded us recently, the first sight of ash-crossed foreheads can be baffling to many among us.

If we pause to ask, someone will explain: they signify Ash Wednesday's start of the Christian season of Lent. A symbol of grief and death, they invite reflection, prayer, and fasting.

This year, those dark and somber signs carried additional significance as missiles and artillery rained down on Cincinnati's sister city of Kharkiv.

Yesterday fire and ash marked homes, businesses, and university buildings (pictured) in that and other Ukrainian cities, whose brave people cry out for the world's solidarity.

Spring Break is upon us, but Easter's life-affirming hope seems dreadfully far away.

My hope for you is that the coming days will bring a measure of quiet and well-deserved rest.

My prayer for the world is that they will also bring peace.