Ashes to go with cotton swabs at St. Simon's Episcopal Church in Arlington Heights

In the COVID-19 world, the Rev. Jenny Hulen uses a cotton swab instead of her finger to celebrate Ash Wednesday with the faithful outside St. Simon's Episcopal Church in Arlington Heights.

Hulen dips the cotton swab into a container, then gently traces ashes in the sign of the cross on the forehead of Roz Camardella of Palatine, while saying, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." She follows by saying, "Go in Peace. Amen."

Camardella and her granddaughter, Peyton Camardella, 11, of Arlington Heights celebrated the Ash Wednesday tradition by attending the drive-through celebration in the driveway in front of St. Simon's.

"It's an important marker for me to begin this really holy season," Camardella said.

Hulen said Ash Wednesday has been a tradition of Christian churches for centuries to mark the start of Lent and the season of penitence.

"It a chance to begin thinking about those broken places that need healing in ourselves and in our world and bring that before a infinitely loving God," Hulen said.