Ash Wednesday
Joel 2:12-18; 2 Cor 5:20-6:2; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18
Today, Ash Wednesday, begins the holy, penitential Season of Lent, 40 days of preparation for the great and glorious celebration of Easter. The meaning of the word Lent comes from the Old English word “lencten” (from which is derived the word lengthen, referring to the lengthening of days – which happens during Springtime). Spring is seen as a time of renewal when the cold winter gives way to warmth, to new plants & flowers, to new life. Spring is a new beginning. MLB baseball teams usually (but sadly, not this year) would now be in “Spring Training,” all with the hope that a new beginning will bring a successful season ahead. And so, the Season of Lent, for us Catholic Christians, can be a new beginning in our faith – a new beginning for us to start over, to get back on track in our faith lives and back on the road that leads to eternal life.
In today’s first reading the prophet Joel speaks the Lord’s words, “Blow the trumpet in Zion, proclaim a fast, call an assembly, gather the people.” In other words, make sure everyone knows how important this is!
In the second reading, St. Paul says, “We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God . . . Behold now is a very acceptable time, now is the day of salvation.” Both St. Paul and the Prophet Joel are saying now, right here and right now, return your hearts to God. This is what the Season of Lent is about. It’s an opportunity to come even closer to our God, to return to Him with our whole heart. Lent is a call to a metanoia, a change of heart, a call to conversion.
To help us in a conversion of heart, the Church provides the means: First and foremost, the Sacrament of Confession, especially if it’s been a while since you’ve gone to the sacrament. And so, we have “Welcome Home to Healing,” the opportunity to reconcile with God on any Monday evening during Lent, in any church throughout the diocese. Then, here at St. Kateri, we offer things like attending morning mass at 8:15, Monday through Friday. Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament on Wednesday afternoons from 2:00 to 4:00. Stations of the Cross on Friday evenings at 7:00. Our weekly Bible study, “No Greater Love,” on Wednesdays at 7pm. And beyond that, you're encouraged to read and meditate on a chapter of scripture or the readings of the day. To pray the Rosary. To give something up . . . Fast from food or pleasures, fast from social media. To give alms. And to serve in some way.
In a few minutes we will be receiving ashes on our foreheads, with Fr. Vidal and myself saying, “Repent and believe in the Gospel.” “Repent and Believe.” Those are the words with which Jesus began his public ministry. And those are the words with which we begin Lent. As the cross of ashes is inscribed on our foreheads, so too those words should be inscribed on our minds and in our hearts for the next forty days.
Repent means change, turn around, do a 180 degree, turn our heart away from sin and bad habits. Believe means to turn back to God, to trust in Him and to live the Gospel. The ashes identify us as “marked men” They are a sign that we’re sinners, that we aren’t perfect. But ashes in the sign of the cross means that God loves us, He died for us, and He wants to help us improve in our lives. Ashes are a sign of death (to self and our sinful ways) to new life and a new beginning. They’re an outward sign of the start of a conversion of heart.
“Repent and Believe.” The forty days of Lent begin with this challenge, and it sets the tone. We’re reminded (and God knows we need to be reminded) that we have work to do. We’re not finished products. Yes, God loves us and accepts us as we are, but He’s not the God of the status quo. He challenges us to grow, to change our hearts, to become the perfect work of art that we were created to be.
Jesus says to each of us today, Repent! Turn from your sins. Turn away from them in sorrow and contrition. Change your mind, change your way of thinking, from the world’s way of thinking and from the selfish desires of your flesh. Recognize how you have broken God’s commandments, how you have not loved God with your whole heart, how you haven’t loved your neighbor as yourself. That’s what sin is. That’s what being a sinner is. Own it. Confess it. Don’t rationalize it or excuse your sins. Don’t compare yourself to other people, focusing on how bad they are. No, look in the mirror. See how you have sinned - in thought, word, and deed, in what you have done wrong and in what you have failed to do right. Admit you’re a sinner, lost without God’s mercy and forgiveness. Recognize your need and your powerlessness before God’s righteous throne of judgment. The wages of sin is death. All that - yes, all of that - is packed into this one word of Jesus, “Repent.”
But thank God, Jesus has another word to speak to us today. And it’s this: “Believe in the gospel.” The gospel is the good news, the glad tidings of God’s undeserved favor toward sinners like you and me. This is something to rejoice over, that God doesn’t only have words of judgment to speak to us, but that he also speaks words of salvation and grace, words of comfort and consolation.
Believe the Good News! Sometimes the bad news in which we find ourselves immersed and drowning in causes us to lose hope, to despair, to become overwhelmed by the negative – our problems, our worries, our struggles; by the stress in our lives, our faults, our failures; by the daily dose of the evening news, which most of the time is anything but good news.
But Jesus proclaims GOOD NEWS! It’s no Pollyanna pronouncement. It’s the good news of God’s grace and mercy and it comes to us absolutely free and, at the same time, at great cost. For Jesus Christ is the heart and center of this gospel. His person and his work is the specific content of this good news. Who Jesus is and what he has done - this is what makes the gospel “good news.”
So, here we are, Day 1 of our forty-day season to examine our lives, to ferret out those places where we’re being less faithful than we ought, to look at our choices in life, and to decide if we’re where we should be. The trumpet has been blown; the call has been sent out - the call to be closer to Jesus at the end of Lent than we are at the beginning. The trumpet has been blown, calling us to a change of heart. The time is now! Repent and believe!
