Ash Wednesday

Ashes and the Truth of Kingship

“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” — Genesis 3:19

At his coronation in Budapest, Karl received the Crown of St. Stephen with trembling reverence, fully aware that he would one day answer before God for every soul entrusted to him. The ancient rites clothed him in the visible signs of a Christian king, yet he understood that this dignity was not his own possession but a responsibility that would demand his life. Within only a few years, the crown, the court, and the structure of imperial life would fall away, and he would stand before the world as an exile — hidden, poor, and stripped of everything except his fidelity to Christ.

The ashes placed upon our foreheads speak the same truth. All that appears secure — our plans, our reputation, our ability to shape our future — is passing. What remains is the heart that belongs to God. Like Karl, we are brought to that place where our identity can no longer rest in what we hold or what others see, but only in the mercy that calls us by name.

Where he stood, we now stand: before God without defenses, marked by the sign of our mortality and the promise of redemption. When what is temporary falls away, the kingdom that cannot be taken from us begins to appear. The path of Lent is not a movement toward loss, but toward the freedom of belonging entirely to Christ.

Blessed Karl, teach us to seek the kingdom that does not pass away. Amen.