As ashes were placed on our foreheads, did you hear “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return?” Perhaps we think of ourselves as mere dust, akin to the dust balls under our bed. But what if we heard, “Remember you are stardust, and to the Great Radiance you will return?” Would we come out from under our bed and look to the stars? Would Lent take on a glow?

Everyone and everything was born 13.7 billion years ago at the Big Bang or Great Radiance. The globs of hydrogen clumped together and ignited into stars. All the elements that comprise our bodies came from that stardust. “The original creative light from which the universe was born remains in everything. Science has confirmed the truth of this, with the discovery that every created thing contains photons that are the source of light and literally radiant” (Healing the Future, Dennis Linn, Sheila Fabricant Linn, Matthew Linn).

I’m a star! I’m made from stardust! I’m glowing! I’m vibrating with radiance! I’m light! How will your Lent be different remembering you’re on your way to the Great Radiance, glowing brilliantly the whole way?