These elements came from (a tiny bit from our fathers seed), but mostly from our mother’s bodies and all that she ate from the earth. Our body is nothing more than elements sustained together by God. So, on Ash Wednesday, it is so correct to meditate on who man is. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth, out of which thou wast taken: for dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return.’ Genesis 3:16-19 Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee and thou shalt eat the herbs of the earth. And to Adam he said: Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat, cursed is the earth in thy work with labour and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life. ‘To the woman also he said: I will multiply thy sorrows, and thy conceptions: in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children, and thou shalt be under thy husband’ s power, and he shall have dominion over thee. God created them to live in paradise without death. Dying and turning back to earth, (from which they were made), was part of their punishment for having rebelled against God who is good. This prayer is taken right out of the Holy Bible and is part of the curse that God put on Adam and Eve for sinning. ‘Remember, man, that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return.’ ‘Memento, homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris.’ There is only one prayer used in the traditional Latin Mass for the distribution of ashes and that has been used for hundreds and hundreds of years: But, everyday is a time to repent and change, (while we still have a chance), not just Lent. It is so serious, that we do not want to ever return to them again, especially after Lent is over. Yes, Lent is definitely a time for repenting of our sins in a very serious way. But, in almost every case I can remember in the Novus Ordo masses or services on Ash Wednesday, the ‘Repent’ one was always used. The priest or ministers can say either one. Or “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return” On Ash Wednesday, the Novus Ordo prayer that is said as each person is marked with a cross on the forehead with ashes is