Ash Wednesday
Welcome to Lent! I pray this season proves to be a deeply formative time in your spiritual journey and for our parish family. As I pray through today’s readings, I find these key action verbs: return (to the Lord), rend (your hearts), be reconciled (to God), give alms, pray, fast. As we reflect on these scriptures, let us ask ourselves: in what areas have I strayed from God? What sin do I recognize in my life, and can I “rend my heart” in contrition? In what way(s) do I need to be reconciled to God? Will I take seriously God’s invitation to give alms, pray, and fast sacrificially? Let us take stock also of where we find ourselves on our spiritual pilgrimage. Are we on course? Have we strayed off the path into the bushes? During his homily at last year’s Ash Wednesday Mass, Pope Francis called Christians to slow down in our fast-paced and often directionless lives and to experience Lent as a wake-up call for the soul. I find our Pope’s points to be a very helpful way in which to focus this reflection.
Pope Francis said that when one is on a journey, distractions will take a person off course. And so, we ask ourselves, am I allowing worldly distractions to keep me sidetracked in my pursuit of God and my growth in holiness? “What is the path?” Pope Francis said, “Is it the search for health, which many today say comes first but which eventually passes? Could it be possessions and wellbeing?” What path am I on, and where is it leading me? The Pope explained that the mark of ash we receive on Ash Wednesday is a sign that helps us find our direction: “it is a reminder that of the many things occupying our thoughts, which we chase after and worry about every day, nothing will remain. No matter how hard we work, we will take no wealth with us from this life . . . The culture of appearance prevalent today, which persuades us to live for passing things, is a great deception. It is like a blaze: once ended, only ash remains.” The Pope said, “Lent is the time to free ourselves from the illusion of chasing after dust” and for rediscovering that “we are created for God, not for the world; for the eternity of heaven, not for earthly deceit; for the freedom of the children of God, not for slavery to things. We should ask ourselves today: Where do I stand? Do I live for fire or for ash?”
In the Gospel, we find three steps that our Lord invites us to take during Lent without hypocrisy and with deep sincerity. These practices bring us back to three unfading realities: God, my neighbor, and my life. Pope Francis summarizes the purpose of each of these three steps, “Prayer reunites us to God; charity, to our neighbor; fasting, to ourselves.” Lent, Pope Francis said, invites us to focus, “first of all on the Almighty, in prayer, which frees us from that horizontal and mundane life where we find time for self but forget God. It then invites us to focus on others, with the charity that frees us from the vanity of acquiring and of thinking that things are only good if they are good for me. Finally, Lent invites us to look inside our heart, with fasting, which frees us from attachment to things and from the worldliness that numbs the heart. Prayer, charity, fasting: three investments for a treasure that endures”.
Lent reminds us to look to the crucified One, and his Cross which defines our lives and keeps us focused on the heavenly Kingdom. “Lent is a time of grace that liberates the heart from vanity” Pope Francis said, “It is a time of healing from addictions that seduce us. It is a time to fix our gaze on what abides.”
“Prayer reunites us to God; charity, to our neighbor; fasting, to ourselves.” This Lent, let us repent, return to God, and seek to grow in radical love and radical discipleship through these essential disciplines.
I used a Vatican News article as the source for my reflection. You can access it Here.
- Elizabeth Wourms