Cabana has been doing ashes-to-go for years. This was her first time doing it in Saranac Lake, where she recently became the new rector of St. Luke’s, the oldest church in town, after transferring here in October from Connecticut.

She said the experience of sharing ashes to go is “powerful.”

“I love the opportunity to connect with people, to hear a little bit of their stories, to just have the opportunity to pray with somebody,” Cabana said. “People really appreciate somebody that wants to offer a prayer for them.”

Some people cannot make the Wednesday church services because of work or obligations, some attended a church where this was a ritual but don’t anymore, some are traveling away from their home church and some just want prayer or spiritual connection.

Rev. Denise Cabana from St. Luke’s Episcopal Church prays with David Staszak after applying ashes to his forehead on Ash Wednesday in Berkeley Green. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

Early on, Cabana said a van pulled up and eight people hopped out. They were led by an Episcopal church deacon who all were visiting Lake Placid.

She asked a family walking down the street if they wanted prayer and the grandmother eagerly turned around to receive her ashes and a prayer.

Dianne Tkach and Mary Brown came by in a car and got ashes drive-thru-style.

Ash Wednesday marks the start of the season of Lent.

Each application of ash comes with the words “ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” The phrase and the ash are a reminder that everyone is formed from the earth and their bodies will return to earth.

Rev. Denise Cabana from St. Luke’s Episcopal Church prays with Dianne Tkach and Mary Brown before applying ashes to Tkach’s forehead drive-thru-style on Ash Wednesday next to Berkeley Green. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

“It reminds us that our bodies will one day return to the earth,” Cabana said. “We all decay at some point and we are returned into the earth. But the essence of who we are lives on forever.”

Lent is a 40-day period of fasting, prayer and repentance in the days leading up to Easter — the Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

“It starts us thinking about how do we amend our lives to become the people that God created us to be?” Cabana said. “Where are the places that we need to pay attention to where we’re not being the people that God created us to be?”

It’s a time to pay particular attention to personal relationships with God, creation and communities, she said, and to recognize selfishness.

Cabana said, in addition to the prayer she gives for everyone receiving ashes — included below — she also asks if the recipient has any special prayers. Almost always, she said these prayer requests are for other people or situations around the world. It shows a selflessness that warms her heart.

She said many of these prayers are for family or friends going through hard times. Often, she said, people leave in tears. She’s grateful for the chance to be able to pray with them.

Cabana said she’s enjoyed living in Saranac Lake fore the past few months. She’s fallen in love with the community and said people have been so welcoming. She plans to stay here.

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Prayer

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“May the Great Creator of life, the universe and everything, who fashioned humanity from the created world, lead you to repent of the sins in your life, both those things that are known and those things that are unknown, actions that have harmed others or the world from which you are made. As you seek forgiveness, may you also be reminded by the ashes you receive, that your body will one day cease to function and return to the earth. And that by the Grace and compassion of God, the essence of who you are will continue forever, Amen.”