#singko

From where I come from, majority of the people there believe in one supreme God presented in three images. They revered those images through different practices and prayers but one of it has been regarded as the face of the Church and their religion. It is Jesus Christ, the very physical embodiment of God. His arrival was foreseen by a variety of prophets, describing him as the "Messiah", the one who will save them all and will usher an era of peace to all mankind.

His life was mostly recorded and practiced by most of the believers of Christianity whereas Lent, reflects and replicate the sacrifice of Christ for 40 days in the desert and ultimately unto His death, on Easter. However, one must need to be reminded of their self and their sins. That is why Ash Wednesday precedes Lent, making sure that everyone is prepared for a month long of sacrifice, fasting and penitence.

The sign of the cross being marked onto the lay's forehead represents humanity's penitence and mortality. It served as a remembrance of how we are nothing but dust and ashes without God who breathe life to us. Moreover, to show that we are willing to change ourselves for the better, to be purified and cleanse from our wrongdoings.

Yet. With or without religion, we are cognizant of the fact that we are mortal beings with finite lives. Regardless of the belief on the afterlife, eternal life up above or reincarnation, the life that we have here wouldn't be the same as oppose to the life we may have on living for the second time. You can't experience the exact same thing as you did compared to being the same consciousness on a different body, animal or just plainly living up above or down the abyss. Cherish the world you are in right now, for it is important and unique on its own.

It is for that very reason why I continue to live as if it is my last day. To grab opportunities as much as I can and to never regret it.

More importantly, to just enjoy living; to feel pain and love, to feel rejection and success and to feel unworthy and important.

Life is not a wish-granting factory. And I realize that throughout the years and it has been more emphasized on due to Ash Wednesday. If we are to let ourselves be marked by the ashes, then we might as well change ourselves for the better too. To be accepting of things we cannot control and to recognize for who and what they are.