We Are Dust

 "Dust, truly a splendid symbol! This is the image of the commonplace. There is always more than enough of it. One fleck is as good as the next. Dust is the image of anonymity. What does it matter if it is this or that dust? It is all the same. Dust is the symbol of nothingness: because it lies around so loosely, it is easily stirred up, it blows around blindly, is stepped upon and crushed ~ and nobody notices.

Truly then scripture is right. We are dust. We are always in the process of dying. We are the beings who set our course for death, when we set out our life's journey. We are the only beings who know about this tendency to death ~ and yet, we are just dust."

* Fr. Karl Rahner

We are dust that wonders, dust that loves, dust that asks why. In our very awareness of being dust, we transcend it. We are the universe's way of knowing itself—commonplace matter awakened to beauty, truth, and meaning. Our fragility is not our limitation but our invitation to treasure each unrepeatable moment, to treat one another with the tenderness befitting fellow dust, and to live as if what we do with our brief spark matters infinitely—because it does.