Reflection on Ash Wednesday - 2015

Joel 2: 12-18

2 Corinthians5: 20-6:2

Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-18

“Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning; rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God.”  (Joel 2: 2-13)

In the frozen, snowbound Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the celebration of Ash Wednesday goes on.  I have been assisting at two Masses, and one service, distributing the ashes; marking each person’s forehead with the sign of the cross (or at least, I am trying to!).  Each time, I tell the person: “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”  I am encouraging them to hear, and accept, the Good News, and to change their lives.   Ashes on the forehead are an ancient symbol of repentance, from the time of ancient Israel, and further back in time.  But it is only a symbol, it has no power, it has no meaning, if the recipient does not commit himself or herself to living the teachings of Jesus Christ. 

Now this requires change; a change in the way we live our lives.  It is a call to enter into a closer, more loving, and a deeper relationship with our God.  It is a call to let go of our selfishness, our self-centeredness, and reach out the Father; and to reach out to each other, friend and stranger alike.  It is a call to let go of the bad self image we can have of ourselves; and realize that God love us for who and what we are, no matter how bad.  And we are called to reach out to the other wounded persons we meet, and share this Good News, whether by word, and by action. 

Lent then, is the season wherein we can enter into a more disciplined way of life, with the aim of growing closer to God.  We are encouraged to make even more time for prayer, where we open our hearts, to let God in, so that we can experience that Love that surpasses all other types of love.  And as our experience of that Love grows and grows, we are impelled to make more and more room in ourselves for God’s Presence.  We need to discover what is our internal clutter, that personal junk, which is getting in our way of loving God.  This is where the discipline of fasting comes in, where we can discover what we really need to live, and what we can do without.  Where we can discover how it feels to be empty, and ready for Christ to come, and knock at the door of our hearts.  Finally, receiving such a great gift from the Father, we feel the need to share that gift of love with others, others who maybe alone, feel unloved, who believe they are alone in a cruel dark world.  By practicing almsgiving, we learn to reach beyond ourselves, and touch those around us, whether they are family, friends or strangers.  And we learned that we are not just called to share from our “surplus,” but to share ourselves totally with others.

The season of Lent has been, is, and always will be an opportunity to deepen our commitment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  An opportunity and it will be a challenge for all of us.  The challenge to grow in our faith and to no matter often we might fail, we pick ourselves up and begin again.  We will not be alone on this Lenten journey, Jesus will be us, inspiring us by His Word, and He strengthens us with His Body and Blood.  And on Easter morn, He will be there to welcome us, into a much more wonderful life.

Ash Wednesday 2013

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent.  Some Catholic bloggers have expressed the concern that the news of Pope Benedict’s resignation would take away from the Lenten observance.  I do not think so, but we will see how many will show up to have their foreheads marked with ashes.

I am coming to realize that Lent can be a time to deepen one’s spiritual life.  When we enter more intensely into the spiritual practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving; we can find ourselves out of our comfort zone.  It is then that God can enter in and transform us.

There are a couple of links I would like to share, that can help us get a good start this Lent.  One is from Father Austin Fleming, author of “A Concord Pastor Comments.”  And another is from Mary DeTurris Poust, who writes the “Not Strictly Spiritual” blog.

Reflection on Ash Wednesday

Another Ash Wednesday has come and gone.  The 2012 season of Lent has begun.  I went into St. Anthony Shrine, Boston, MA, for a period of prayer and to receive the ashes.  I went to a Franciscan Friar I knew and he gave me a pretty good smudge.  People would definitely know what faith I belonged to that day.

Later, I went to a mid-day Mass at the Shrine.  The celebrant, during his homily, called on all of us to use this Lenten season as an opportunity to become the person God meant us to be.  We are all called by Christ to a life of holiness, to strive to live the Gospel and enter into a deeper relationship with our loving God.

The Church give us the season of Lent to remind us of that call, and encourages us to answer it with all our heart and soul.

A Reflection on Ash Wednesday

Every Ash Wednesday, the Franciscan church I attend, begins its annual fundraising appeal. So I was standing in the rear of one of the chapels, passing out appeal envelopes to people as they were leaving the church. As I stood there, I was observing the people coming in to receive their ashes. I saw men and women coming in dressed in business suits; street people in their worn coats. I saw young women coming in with their children; elderly slowly making their way forward. There were white and black; Asian and Hispanic. Some were blessed with easy lives, while others have struggled. Yet, all of them heard the same admonition: “Remember, thou art dust, and to dust you shall return.”

I was reminded of something St. Francis of Assisi wrote in his Fifth Admonition: “What have you to be proud of? If you were so clever and learned that you knew everything and could speak every language, so that the things of heaven were an open book to you, still you could not boast of that. Any of the devils knew more about the things of heaven, and knows more about the things of earth, than any human being, even one who might have received from God a special revelation of the highest wisdom. If you were the most handsome and the richest man in the world, and could work wonders and drive out devils, all that would be something extrinsic to you; it would not belong to you and you could not boast of it. But there is one thing of which we can boast; we can boast of our humiliations (cf.2 Cor. 12: 15) and in taking up daily the holy cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”