Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the season of
Lent. This
is the time to take those three penitential acts, praying, fasting and giving
alms. Why
did Jesus single out prayer, fasting, and almsgiving for his disciples? The
Jews considered these three as the cardinal works of the religious life. These
were seen as the key signs of a pious person, the three great pillars on which
the good life was based. Jesus pointed to the heart of the matter. Why do you
pray, fast, and give alms? To draw attention to yourself so that others may
notice and think highly of you? Or to give glory to God? The Lord warns his
disciples of self-seeking glory the preoccupation with looking good and seeking
praise from others. True piety is something more than feeling good or looking
holy. True piety is loving devotion to God. It is an attitude of awe,
reverence, worship and obedience. It is a gift and working of the Holy Spirit
that enables us to devote our lives to God with a holy desire to please him in
all things (Isaiah 11:1-2).
Let us take one step back to examine the meaning of
Lent. Lent is a 40-day period of preparation for Easter Sunday. We follow Jesus
into the desert, that harsh arid environ, that barren landscape both
fascinating and terrifying, and for many of us, the last place on earth we
would want to end up in. It lacks the necessary vegetation and foliage that
would provide shade from the accursed sun. It lacks water necessary for life.
The desert is literally deserted, a place not meant for the living, just for
the dead. It is there that the power of death holds sway. And yet, the desert
is the perfect place to spend Lent. In the Gospels, Jesus is tempted in the
wilderness to be a different kind of Messiah; to take the path of spectacle and
power rather than that of humble service. Each year, in imitation of our Lord,
we retreat into the desert for the forty days – the liturgical season
consecrated for personal conversion and preparation to celebrate the great
mysteries of our redemption.
The forty days of Lent is the annual retreat of the
people of God in imitation of Jesus' forty days in the wilderness. Forty is a
significant number in the scriptures. Moses went to the mountain to seek the
face of God for forty days in prayer and fasting. The people of Israel were in
the wilderness for forty years in preparation for their entry into the promised
land. Elijah fasted for forty days as he
journeyed in the wilderness to the mountain of God. We are called to journey
with the Lord in a special season of prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and penitence
as we prepare to celebrate the feast of Easter, the Christian Passover. The
Lord gives us spiritual food and supernatural strength to seek his face and to
prepare ourselves for spiritual combat and testing. We, too, must follow in the
way of the cross in order to share in the victory of Christ's death and
resurrection. What is the sure reward which Jesus points out to his disciples?
It is communion with God our Father. In him alone we find the fullness of life,
happiness, and truth.
Today, as the beginning of Lent, on Ash Wednesday,
the blessed ashes are "imposed" on the faithful as a sign of
conversion, penance, fasting and human mortality. The
act of putting on ashes symbolizes fragility and mortality, and the need to be
redeemed by the mercy of God. Far from being a merely external act, the Church
has retained the use of ashes to symbolize that attitude of internal penance to
which all the baptized are called during Lent. St. Augustine of
Hippo tells us that there are two kinds of people and two kinds of love: One is
holy, the other is selfish. One is subject to God; the other endeavors to equal
Him. We are what we love. God wants to free our hearts from all that would keep
us captive to selfishness and sin. Rend your hearts and not your garments says
the prophet Joel (Joel 2:12). The Holy Spirit is ever ready to transform our
hearts and to lead us further in Gods way of truth and holiness.
As we begin this holy season of testing and
preparation, let's ask the Lord for a fresh outpouring of his Holy Spirit that
we may grow in faith, hope, and love and embrace his will more fully in our
lives. May the prayer of Augustine of Hippo, recorded in his Confessions, be
our prayer this Lent: When I am
completely united to you, there will be no more sorrows or trials; entirely
full of you, my life will be complete. The Lord wants to renew us each day
and give us new hearts of love and compassion. God also
implores us to "re-lent," that is, to enter year after year into the
spirit of Lent with our whole heart. He tells us through the prophet Joel to
"re-turn" to Him and "quit" the ways of the world, even
those which might be good (Jl 2:16), for His sake. Through the Church, He calls
us to "turn away from sin and believe in the Gospel." We don't just
turn away from worldly things; we turn to the Lord God.
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