Today ash is blessed and placed on our foreheads. They are reminders of our sinfulness and of our littleness before God. [Mark 1:14-15]
This ash were once the psalms used on Palm Sunday. So they are also ashes of hope. Ash stands for purification and repentance. We take them to remind us that we are part of the creation of God. We are made by God, as is the earth and its dust, for life. In taking the ashes we are all equal: men and women, young and old, teacher and pupil; we are all equal in the sight of God. We all take the same ashes.
This ash have no value except in the sight of God. They are nothing but dust. We are nothing without God: in God we live and move and have our being.