So, I usually am enlisted to give out Ashes every year and I was again this year at our Campus mass. When I received my ashes I heard the words “Repent and believe in the gospel.”

I prefer to hear the more traditional “Remember that you are dust, and unto dust you will return” most often. But I’m not offended if I don’t hear that.

As a minister I often say the “Remember that you are dust…” words to younger people because I think that’s a message that they don’t take seriously enough. Death seems far away for the young, but yet thousands of young people die every year. I’ve had three friends die before the age of 30 –so it’s not an anomaly.

What prayer do you prefer to hear from the minister or priest in your church? Or what do you say as a minister of distribution? Leave them all here and we’ll discuss later.