For Ash Wednesday

The ashes On my forehead or in my hands, the ashes say the earth, the earth where I come from, the one I live in to change it, transform it, and at the same time transform my heart. My hands covered in ashes, marked by my sin and failed things, before You, Lord, I open them, so that they become capable of building again and so that you remove the dirt from it. My hands clutching my possessions and my ready-made ideas, before You, Lord, I open them, so that they let my treasures escape. My hands, ready to lacerate and wound, before You, Lord, I open them, so that they become able to caress again. My hands, closed like fists of hatred and violence before You, Lord, I open them, You will place tenderness there. My hands separate from their sin: before You, Lord, I open them: I await your forgiveness. In the palm of my hands or on my forehead, ashes to tell me: return to the down to earth of everyday life, without forgetting the dream. The trace of ashes, On my forehead or in my hands, Show me a way: It is by returning to God That I can come back to myself and reconcile with myself. Amen