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Episcopal Churches Bring 'Ashes To Go' To Commuters

By: Armando Trull // February 13, 2013
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Rev. Dr. Marianne Budde administers the Ash Wednesday blessing at the Foggy Bottom Metro stop.
Armando Trull
Rev. Dr. Marianne Budde administers the Ash Wednesday blessing at the Foggy Bottom Metro stop.

Ash Wednesday is an important day on the Christian religious calendar, and the Episcopal Church was out at Metro stops to bring the message to commuters.

Rev. Dr. Marianne Budde, the diocesan bishop in Washington, was out leading the charge at the Foggy Bottom Metro with a program they call "Ashes To Go," where commuters can receive a blessing and the traditional Ash Wednesday cross on their foreheads.

"Ashes To Go is a public offering of the Episcopal Church, so that those who are on their way to work or to school or otherwise in the midst of their lives can receive a reminder of their blessedness, of the temporal nature of their lives." Budde says. "This a moment to reflect and receive that blessing."

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the 40-day celebration in anticipation of Easter for Christians around the world.

"The typical phrase that is said on the imposition of the ashes is, 'Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.' So it's an invitation for us to remember the fleeting nature of life, the give of it, and to live mindfully of it," Budde says.

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