Shadows and Dust

"The body is not important. It is made of dust; it is made of ashes. It is food for worms. The winds and waters dissolve it and scatter it to the four corners of the earth. In the end, what we care most for lasts only a brief lifetime, then there is eternity."
(Anaya, Bless Me Ultima, 203)

What insight from a little boy sitting in church on Ash Wednesday. He has understood the importance of eternity and the briefness of this mortal existence. Throughout life we grow up and all learn that we are really nothing; that there is something more than our bodies and our earthly greatness. We learn the importance of using this brief lifetime to prepare for the lengthiness of eternity.

Again I was pulled into thinking about one of my favorite movies, Gladiator.




Proximo, the owner of the gladiators, tells Maximus that we mortals are but "Shadows and dust." That's all we are, just this shell that we occupy and learn to control. We die and the bodies we have return to the shadows and become the dust we were made from. We worry about our bodies and our lives so much, but in the end, we are only mortal for a very short time.









Earlier in the movie Maximus speaks to his men and says, "What we do in life, echoes in eternity."  There was an understanding of the importance of going good and that this mortal life will eventually end. A man will be judged according to his works and his character. What we do and become in this life determines what and who we are in eternity.





We really need to comprehend the importance of the eternities along with our own nothingness and inability to become something without some help. I know that yes we are less than the dust of the earth, but we have the potential to make long lasting echoes in eternity as we learn, grow, and do incredible things for others. How are we setting ourselves up for eternity?