Ash Wednesday Archives - Killing the Buddha

The Mud of Us

By Ashley Makar | March 30, 2024

Grief calls for outlandish acts of love.

Ash Blessings

By Ashley Makar | February 22, 2023

No need to profess a thing.

Embering

By Ashley Makar | March 2, 2022

What to do with this grief over what happened to you? I don’t know, so I’m making a ritual.

How We Are Holding

By Ashley Makar | February 17, 2021

I keep turning to trees these dead-of-February, unending pandemic days.

The Dust of Us

By Ashley Makar | February 26, 2020

I love walking around with a sign of dying on my face.

End-of-Life Lullaby

By Ashley Makar | March 6, 2019

Grieving is a lit cave.

Celebrate the Death

By Ashley Makar | February 14, 2018

Dust to dust, the stuff of us, before and after life.

windyroad[Editor's note: you can read about Ashley's experience with biking as a "survivor" in the 2014 Closer to Free ride here. She has written more about cancer and her work with refugees here and in her KtB e-book <em>You Were Strangers: Dispatches From Exile</em>.]

Easter, A Bright Sadness

By Ashley Makar | April 5, 2015

Death is a kind of light.

Ashley Wednesday

By KtBniks | February 18, 2015

“I go to Mass early, start the day laden with the strangeness of being a Christian, of being part of this we who celebrate death and resurrection. After the ashes,…

Leaves of Ash

By Ashley Makar | April 15, 2014

You forget and then remember: you’re dying.

The Praying Habit: Week 1

By Carolyn Browender | March 17, 2014

Well, this is embarrassing. I forgot to pray on Ash Wednesday. I went to mass with two coworkers (the cathedral near our office had a service at a more convenient…

A Little Song I Wrote

By Emily Raboteau | March 11, 2013

People won’t buy Bobby McFerrin’s new album if they think he’s a Jesus freak. I was called upon to testify.

The Lent Bin

By Mary Valle | January 28, 2013

I’ve barely got my Christmas decorations put away and was pondering hearts and snowflakes for St. Valentine’s Day when I realized that Lent begins February 13th this year. February. 13.…

Ash Wednesday