"Remember that you art dust and unto dust you shalt return" Genesis 3:19

• The modern practice in Roman Catholic churches nowadays, as the ashes are being administered, is for the priest to say something like Turn away from sin and believe the gospel.
  
  Keeping the mark
  At some churches the worshippers leave with the mark still on their forehead so that they carry the sign of the cross out into the world.
  
  At other churches the service ends with the ashes being washed off as a sign that the participants have been cleansed of their sins.
  
  Symbolism of the ashes
  The marking of their forehead with a cross made of ashes reminds each churchgoer that:
  
  Death comes to everyone
  They should be sad for their sins
  They must change themselves for the better
  God made the first human being by breathing life into dust, and without God, human beings are nothing more than dust and ashes
  The shape of the mark and the words used are symbolic in other ways:
  
  The cross is a reminder of the mark of the cross made at baptism
  The phrase often used when the ashes are administered reminds Christians of the doctrine of original sin
  The cross of ashes may symbolise the way Christ's sacrifice on the cross as atonement for sin replaces the Old Testament tradition of making burnt offerings to atone for sin. MORE>>>