Fr. Eugene Lobo SJ –
Ash Wednesday: February 22, 2023
Joel 2, 12-18, 2 Cor 5, 20- 6, 2, Mt 6, 1-6, 16-18
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Season of Lent. It is a season of penance, prayer and fasting which is our preparation for the Easter celebration of Jesus’ resurrection. Excluding Sundays it is a season of forty days, in imitation of Jesus spending forty days in the desert. Jesus fasted in the desert, and overcame the devil’s temptations. By observing the forty days of lent, the individual Christian imitates Jesus’ withdrawal into the wilderness for forty days and at the same time contemplates on the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. While sprinkling the ashes the priest or the deacon says, “Remember, Man is dust, and unto dust you shall return.” Ashes are a symbol of penance made sacramental by the blessing of the Church, and they help us develop a spirit of humility and sacrifice.
Ashes were used in ancient times as a sign of mourning. Dusting oneself with ashes was an expression of sorrow for one’s sins and faults. The ashes are made from the blessed palms used in the Palm Sunday celebration of the previous year. The ashes are christened with Holy Water and are scented by exposure to incense. While the ashes symbolize penance and contrition, they are also a reminder that God is gracious and merciful to those who call on Him with repentant hearts. They are signs that we are all sinners and we are all called to repentance. It is an invitation to look into our hearts and make the ancient prayer our own: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” Historically applying ashes on one’s forehead during the Lenten Season goes back as far as the eight century.
In the early church the Season of Lent had a threefold function. It was a time to prepare new converts for baptism through intensive study and instruction. This was the time designated for the preparation of candidates for baptism and confirmation. Hence it is a season which is intentionally set aside for examination, instruction, penitence and prayer for these candidates. The candidates had to come to the church to receive the word of God and its explanation but were not permitted to participate in the Eucharist during that time. They were accepted into the fold on Holy Saturday after being baptised. Secondly, it was a time for long-standing Christians to review their lives and renew their commitment to Jesus Christ. This was the time for all the people of God to reflect on Christ’s journey to Calvary where he died on the cross and ended with Resurrection. Finally it was a time for backsliders or public sinners to be restored to the faith. They were expected to come before the Bishop or elders and confess their sin. For the next forty days they spent time in penance, prayer and reflection of the word of God and stayed away from Eucharist, but were accepted back into the community on Holy Saturday.
The liturgy calls for the celebrant to say these words as he places ashes on the foreheads of the faithful: “Remember, man, you are dust and to dust you will return”; or, “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel”. The readings of today give us the same theme. First Reading of today taken from the Book of Joel, tells us of the Lord God who calls upon us to return to Him with all our hearts, with fasting, weeping and mourning. The prophet says that a sinner must split apart his hearts, not the garments. The Old Testament tells us that often people tore their clothing as a sign of repentance and wore sack cloth. However, the tearing of their clothing was only an exterior sign; this never indicated true repentance. The prophet tells the people that they have to change and their hard and stubborn hearts must be transformed.
In today’s Second Reading Paul appeals to the Corinthians on behalf of Jesus to be reconciled to God. This passage contains one of the famous Pauline paradoxes, which redirects the whole reflection on righteousness to the mystery of Christ. He tells them that God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus to die for the sake of humanity on the cross. He who was without sin took the place of human beings and was treated as a sinner, so that all might become righteous in the eyes of God. Jesus through his death on the cross has helped us to secure our salvation.
Our today’s Gospel taken from Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount gives the teachings of Jesus regarding the Christian way of living and their total commitment to God and fellow men. The entire Sermon on the Mount gives the Christian ethical norms that stand contrary to the values of the world. It is by embracing a spiritual mind that a disciple is called upon to follow Jesus so that he may mature in Christ by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus warns all against hypocrisy and pretensions and warns those who present themselves to be pious before others. Jesus says that they have received their rewards through those who admired them and praised them for it. However for them, there is no reward from God the Father in Heaven. Jesus then invites the disciple to a closer relationship with God..
Jesus gives us in today’s gospel the three traditional pillars of Lenten observance namely, prayer, fasting and almsgiving. They are three great Christian duties-the three foundations of the law, and by them a Christian does homage and service to God with the three principal interests: by prayer with our souls, by fasting with our bodies, by alms-giving with our companions and fellow human beings. In this passage Jesus speaks about the need for prayer. Our prayer is our personal relationship with God. It is our raising of our heart and mind to God and build our personal bond with him. The church expects us to give more time to prayer during Lent in order to closer to the Lord. He tells that we must go into our inner room or the quiet hidden place, close the door and pray to God the Father in private so the Heavenly Father may see us in private and reward us accordingly. It is through prayer that we develop a closer, more intimate relationship with God.
Fasting is one of the most ancient practices linked to Lent. The early Church fasted intensely for two days before the celebration of the Easter Vigil. This fast was later extended and became a 40-day period of fasting leading up to Easter. Fasting is more than a means of developing self-control. It is often an aid to prayer, as the pangs of hunger remind us of our hunger for God. Fasting should be linked to our concern for those who are forced to fast by their poverty, those who suffer from the injustices of our economic and political structures, those who are in need for any reason. Fasting can help us realize the suffering that so many people in our world experience every day, and it should lead us to greater efforts to alleviate that suffering. Fasting helps us to rediscover the need and desire of God as the profound soul of our existence, disposing ourselves to be empty of ourselves in order to be full of him. Fasting rules have changed through the ages, but throughout Church history fasting has been considered sacred, as it was considered in the Old Testament. Prophet Isaiah insists that fasting without changing our behaviour is not pleasing to God. Therefore, the goal of fasting is linked with prayer.
Almsgiving is simply a response by us to God, a response that we have come to through prayer and fasting. It is an expression of our gratitude for all that God has given and a realization that in the Body of Christ, it is never just “me and God.” Works of charity and the promotion of justice are integral elements of the Christian way of life. It is a sign of our care for that in need and an expression of our gratitude for things God has given to us. Almsgiving, far from being an act of giving, is an attitude of the heart, a heart that is humble, repentant, merciful, compassionate, which seeks to reproduce in its relations with others the experience of mercy that each one of us lives in our relation with God. Almsgiving is simply a response by us to God, is a small sacrifice, a gesture of love, possibly humble, hidden, but genuine, which costs something and is done in praise of God and for someone who is suffering and in need.
Jesus today tells us that we must do better than the scribes and Pharisees in avoiding heart-sins, heart-adultery, and heart-murder, so likewise in maintaining and keeping up heart-religion, doing what we do from an inward, vital principle, that we may be approved of God, not that we may be applauded of men; that is, he tells us that we must watch against hypocrisy. The Lord will reward us for our sincerity and genuineness and the reward may not be here and now but we must look for the reward in the life to come.
Teacher Debbie Moon’s first graders were discussing a picture of a family. One little boy in the picture had a different hair color than the other members. One of her students suggested that he was adopted. A little girl said, ‘I know all about adoption, I was adopted.’ ‘What does it mean to be adopted?’, asked another child. ‘It means’, said the girl, ‘that you grew in your mommy’s heart instead of her tummy!’