March 2, 2020
Paulist Fr. Rich Andre preached this homily on Ash Wednesday on March 6, 2019, at St. Austin Parish in Austin, TX. The homily is based on the day’s readings: Joel 2:12-18; Psalm 51; 2 Corinthians 5:20 – 6:2; and Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18.
In recent decades, Ash Wednesday has become a phenomenon. The Church never intended it to be a major event. It is not a holy day of obligation. And yet, Christians of various denominations turn out in droves on Ash Wednesday. Why is that? I think there are two reasons.
The first is that we live in a time when many people rarely take responsibility for their actions. (And this has been exacerbated in recent years by social media’s attacks on everyone’s flaws – whether they are real or perceived.) Receiving ashes has become one of the few public ways for us to safely acknowledge the reality of our sinfulness.
The second reason is that most of you don’t live with the kind of people I do. As Paulist Fr. John Duffy loves to remind me: “I was once something that you’ll never be: a young priest!” Now, more than in any other era of humanity, many of us can go long periods without facing the reality of our own deaths.
Ash Wednesday is a day to acknowledge the impermanence of our lives. All things are constantly changing. Youth is fleeting. Health is tenuous. Even our material possessions and relationships are impermanent. Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent, in which we search for true meaning, for treasure that lasts.
Today, as fears of the coronavirus fill the airwaves, we begin like the Jewish people facing a locust plague more than 2400 years ago. We proclaim a fast and call an assembly. We mark our faces with soot, recalling that our time on this earth is limited, and that God calls us to greater things than the pettiness of sin.
[After the psalm, but before the 2nd reading:]
We have reflected on our sinfulness and on our mortality, but the purpose of Ash Wednesday is not to leave us there. St. Paul now invites us to begin again the process of growing in our relationship with God. After all, the word “Lent” comes from an old German word meaning “springtime.” Within a few weeks, the bluebonnets will be in full bloom, reminding us that as long as we are alive, there are countless opportunities for us to reconcile with God.
[after the proclamation of the gospel:]
I’ll give you a few moments to reflect on each of the following three question:
- What is difficult in your life right now? [Pause 20 seconds.]
- For what in your life are you grateful? [Pause 20 seconds.]
- What is God inviting you to change right now, and what is God inviting you to accept with simple grace? [Pause 20 seconds.]
You may want to take some more time contemplating these questions over the next few days. Again, they were: (1) What’s difficult in your life right now? (2) For what in your life are you grateful? (3) What is God inviting you to change right now, and what is God inviting you to accept with simple grace?
There is absolutely no need to decide by Ash Wednesday what you’re going to give up or what you’re going take on as part of your Lenten disciplines. Perhaps give yourself a deadline to make a decision by this weekend before you come to Mass. And even then, be open. As Jesus said, the wind blows where it wills. Sometimes, the insights I receive from the Holy Spirit throughout Lent lead me to a very different place than where I intended to go at the beginning of the season! I have often learned the most in the Lenten seasons when I fail to maintain my chosen discipline.
For example, five years ago, I decided that I would get serious about using my electronic calendar for Lent. I would be rigorous in naming my top three priorities each day and accomplishing them. It ended up being one of the best Lents I ever had. Even when monitoring my “to do” list every single day for the first four weeks of Lent, I still didn’t get the first thing on my list completed very often, but I understood that I had deliberately chosen to change my priorities. In the past, I had just presumed that I was lazy. The big learning wasn’t about using an app. My failure in maintaining my discipline taught me – surprisingly enough – that I needed to give myself the same compassion that Jesus gives me every day.
Ash Wednesday, therefore, is not a day to dwell on our sinfulness and our mortality. It is a day to use that awareness as a springboard to new possibilities, to new aspirations, to new life. After all, as I said before, the word “Lent” comes from an old German word for springtime.
This Lent, I am going to try to simplify my life. Since my house is probably going to be torn down later this year, I’d like to get rid of a lot of stuff before I move. I know there’s a spiritual element to my reluctance to part with items I keep on saying I should dispose of, but never getting around to throwing out. So I’m re-reading a book by minister Wayne Muller called A Life of Being, Having, and Doing Enough, hoping that I pick up additional insights reading it a second time. Where these insights lead me, I do not know, but I’m already excited enough that I’m planning to lead some discussion groups on this same book during Lent next year. I’m sure there will be additional insights reading it a third time in 2021!
Lent does not have to be a time to miserable or mournful. Lent can be exciting, happy, or adventurous – whatever you need it to be. Yes, let us reflect on our sinfulness, but with the idea of leaving those sins in the past. And here’s a pro tip: if you want to go to confession during Lent, GO EARLY. The lines get longer and longer as the season goes along. Since Lent is about moving beyond our sins, it really doesn’t make sense to wait until Holy Week to confess your sins. If you want to make an appointment with Fr. Chuck or me, get on our calendars now!
Also, while fasting and abstaining are an important part of Lent, the main goal is not about feeling tired or deprived: it’s about having solidarity with those people who have less than we do. We’ve supposed to donate the money we save to the poor… which is another way to have a life-giving Lent!
Ash Wednesday is merely a day to remind us of our mortality and the ways that we have failed. On the other hand, Lent is a full season that invites us to turn back to our ever-living, ever-loving God.
In the words of St. Paul: Now is a very acceptable time. Today is the day of salvation.