Where do the Ashes Come From?

We just returned from our annual Ash Wednesday service. Using the ashes to place the mark of the cross on the foreheads of those present always reminds me that I'm called upon on some occasions to answer the question, "Where do the ashes come from."

One of our parishioners tonight confessed that several years before I came to the church she had volunteered to take the remaining palms from Palm Sunday of the previous year and convert them into ashes. This was her first try at making usable ashes. She broke up the palms and placed them in a pan. Then she attempted to light the palms in the pan, but they refused.

Undaunted, she went outside and got the charcoal lighter fluid and gave the mixture a good squirt.

That year, the mark of the cross was blacker than ever.