I’m glad that we receive ashes only once a year and have the opportunity to receive the Eucharist everyday (and not the other way around!). Both actions express the same message: we are incapable of sustaining ourselves. On Ash Wednesday, we are reminded of what we are when no longer sustained by God…dust. The Eucharist, on the other hand, IS what sustains us…God’s grace – the presence of Jesus within us. The message of Ash Wednesday is not morbid…it is a joyful reminder that, with God’s life within us, we are so much more than dust and ashes!