Ash Wednesday
Joel 2:12-18; 2 Cor 5:20- 6:2; Mt 6:1-6, 16-18
Embracing a Disciplined Life
Many of us are afraid to embrace a disciplined life because we feel it will mean hard work and nothing but drudgery. However, a disciplined approach is necessary to put things right in all matters of life. In our journey of faith, the season of Lent is given to us as a checkpoint to get our bearings and assess our progress in life. It helps us to be disciplined enough to make the changes necessary to set ourselves on the path to God and a more fruitful life.
Ashes: On this first day of Lent, the priest, after blessing the ashes burned from the previous Palm Sunday, dips his thumb into the ashes and marks the forehead of each person with the Sign of the Cross, saying the words, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you will return,” or, “Repent and believe in the Gospel.” By receiving the ashes, we confess that we are sinners in need of God’s mercy, and we ask for forgiveness. This act gives us the firm conviction that we are mortal beings and that our bodies will return to dust after death. It reminds us that our lifespan is brief and unpredictable.
Ashes are a sign of sinfulness. Seeing the Israelites’ dishonest trade practices, idol worship, and other sinful ways—and knowing their guilt—God brought down fire in their midst and declared, “I turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who saw you” (Ezekiel 28:18). Ashes are also a symbol of sorrow. Tamar put ashes on her head and tore her long tunic as an expression of grief (2 Samuel 13:19). Mordecai tore his garments, put on sackcloth and ashes, and walked through the city crying out loudly and bitterly (Esther 4:1). It is not enough to feel sorry or merely express our grief—we need to recognize and acknowledge our sinful condition and return to our loving and forgiving God with true repentance, as the prodigal son did (Luke 15:11–32).
Prayerful Fasting: The prophet Joel, in the first reading, insists that we must experience a complete conversion of heart, not simply feel regret for our sins. St. Paul, in the second reading, urges us to “be reconciled to God.” The Gospel invites us to effect a real conversion and renewal of life during the period of Lent through fasting, prayer, and almsgiving.
Jesus, before beginning his public ministry, fasted for forty days. The king and the people of Nineveh (Jonah 3:7) fasted in sackcloth, pleading for mercy from the Lord God. The Syrian King Ben-Hadad (1 Kings 20:31–34) did not fast but wore sackcloth and begged Israel’s King Ahab for his life. Queen Esther fasted, begging God to save her people (Esther 4:16). The soldiers of Judas Maccabaeus fasted so greatly that they felt too weak to fight (1 Mac 3:17). St. Paul also observed “frequent fasting” (2 Cor 11:27). We must adopt fasting to complement our prayer life. However, true fasting means “rending your hearts and not your garments”—showing genuine repentance for our sins (Joel 2:13).
There are many advantages to fasting. It reduces the excess “fat” in our souls, accumulated through evil tendencies and sinful habits. It gives us moral and spiritual strength. Fasting also provides us with more time to be with God in prayer and encourages us to share our food and goods with the needy. Thomas Merton, a mystic, says, “There is joy in the salutary fasting and abstinence of Christians who eat and drink less in order that their minds may be clearer and more receptive to receive the sacred nourishment of God’s word, which the whole Church announces and meditates upon in each day’s liturgy throughout Lent.”
Practicing Charity: Almsgiving is our response to God—a response that flows from prayer and fasting. It expresses our gratitude for all that God has given us and our realization that in the Body of Christ, it is never just “God and me.” Job vowed to God, “If I have withheld anything that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it… let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder, and let my arm be broken from its socket” (Job 31:16–22). “He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed” (Pro 19:17; see also Is 58:7; Mat 5:42; Mat 25:35; Acts 10:31).
Works of charity and the promotion of justice are integral elements of the Christian way of life. Almsgiving removes residual weakness in our souls caused by sin. It pays the temporary debt of sin and makes our prayers more fruitful. Almsgiving is much more than simply giving money to the needy—it is an attitude of the heart: humble, repentant, merciful, and compassionate. It is the voluntary offering of ourselves through the sharing of our goods, time, and energy with those in need. Let our goal for this Lenten season be true conversion and renewal of life through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.
Clean-up Time: Once, a man went to a restaurant, and while eating, he was distracted by an interesting conversation nearby. His jacket sleeve accidentally dipped into ketchup. First, he wiped the mess with napkins and then washed the sleeve with water and soap, but the stain did not completely disappear. Though it did not look terribly dirty, the first thing he did upon returning home was to wash it thoroughly. As he was doing this, a thought came to him: “It’s only a jacket… but what about my immortal soul? My life? How many marks, how many stains, how many faults are there to be cleansed?” The blessed ashes we receive today are a sign that we intend to clean up the mess in our lives over the next forty days and get back on track toward the reign of God. With the help of the graces our good Lord so longs to give us, let us make these necessary changes.
