About Ash Wednesday: We begin Lent by declaring the fast before the feast of Easter, but even in this season of Lent, we find joy. We find renewal in the declaration that we are dust and to dust we shall return. As Paul says: We are sorrowful and always rejoicing, poor and making others rich, having nothing yet having everything. It is the AND that describes our life in Christ, it is Christ who connects our suffering with His Glory, and our fast with His feast.