We have spent the last two weeks since Septuagesima preparing ourselves for our Lenten observance. Today it begins. We commemorate today several things:
- The beginning of Christ’s sojourn for forty days and forty nights into the wilderness in preparation for and in denial of Satan for His great ministry of proclamation and teaching the “Good News”;
- We recall our Baptism and entry into the Catholic Faith and the promises we made at our Confirmation;
- We enter into a holy season of penitence and fasting remembering our mortality;
- We begin our meditation and preparation as the Body of Christ on Earth in preparation for the commemoration of the Passion and Death of Our Lord and His Glorious Resurrection… by which we are made inheritors of the Kingdom of God and receive eternal life.
Lent is of course of itself the commemoration of Christ’s time in the wilderness [see Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13] . After His baptism, Our Lord Jesus Christ went into the wilderness in order to prepare in solitude by fasting and prayer for the accomplishing of His great work for which He had come to earth. For forty days and forty nights, He was in the wilderness not eating any food, praying about and contemplating His future ministry. He was tempted by Satan, but rebuked him.
This is primarily the reason why Lent exists. The Church commemorates this period of Our Lord’s fasting and spiritual retreat in order to prepare us for the commemoration of the accomplishment of His mission – His Passion, Death and Resurrection.
In the Liturgy of today we receive the imposition of Ashes on our foreheads in the sign of the Cross. This, as when we cross ourselves with Holy Water, reminds us of our Baptism, but also today of our Confirmation when the Bishop traced the sign of the Cross in Chrism on our heads and we promised to turn from sin, reject Satan (as did Christ in the wilderness) and turn to Christ.
The Ashes themselves speak to a time when they were used, according to the Bible, to express mourning. Dusting oneself with ashes was the penitent’s way of expressing sorrow for sins and faults. An ancient example of one expressing one’s penitence is found in Job 42:3-6. Job says to God: “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” In the Early Church the use of ashes had a like signification and with sackcloth formed part of the public penance. The blessing of the ashes is one of the great liturgical rites of the year. It was originally instituted for public penitents, but is now intended for all Christians, as Lent should be a time of penance for all.
However, as Christ is “Alpha and Omega” the beginning and the end… so the symbolism of the Ashes is cyclical, for in the sign of the Cross they speak to us silmultaeneously of our re-birth in Christ and of our mortal death “Remember, O man, that thou art dust, and unto dust shalt thou return.” Genesis 3:19…. to remind us of the whole purpose of our Catholic Faith… eternal life which prize was won for us by Christ’s Passion and Death.
The Ashes serve to symbolise both our mortality and our need for repentance and contrition in order to receive eternal life with God:
- The imposition of the Ashes in the sign of the Cross reminds us of the promises made at our Baptism on our behalf (by our parents and Godparents) and by ourselves before the Bishop at Confirmation when we “died to sin”, “rejected Satan and all his works” and “turned to Christ”;
- The Ashes themselves speak demonstratively through the ages of repentance and mourning and serve to remind us of our own mortality and the need to “die to self” in order to…
- Receive eternal life, which is the summit and purpose of the Christian life.
Hence the Ashes at the beginning of Lent remind us that to gain eternal life we must repent of our sin, reject Satan and turn to Christ, mindful of our mortality in order that we may receive eternal life. So marked with the sign of Faith we enter into the holy season.
Holy Mother Church in her tradition and wisdom however, doesn’t just mark us with ash and leave us to it… remember the readings of Quinquagesima, the last Sunday before Lent? The Church reminds us again in what spirit we are to observe the season in today’s readings;
Thus saith the Lord: Be converted to Me with all your heart, in fasting and in weeping and in mourning. And rend your hearts and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God…” Today’s Epistle [Joel: 2:12-19]
“When you fast, be not as the hypocrites, sad. For they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast… For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also.” Today’s Gospel [Matthew 6:16-21]
The Divine Economy: Charity. Holy Church teaches us that the only profitable way to observe Lent is in the spirit of Charity – of Divine Love. Last Sunday’s Epistle 1 Corinthians xiii: 1-13, teaches us that without Charity i.e. love, all our labours and endeavours are emtpy, without meaning, without effect;
If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
We are to be mindful that our fasting and our abstinence should not be devoid of meaning or efficacy but instead be directed by devotion and love for God in Christ. All our Lenten observance should be conducted in this spirit of adoration, of seeking to love God and neighbour in all we do.
The Gospel reminded us of why we do all this…
Then Jesus took unto him the twelve and said to them: Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and all things shall be accomplished which were written by the prophets concerning the Son of man. For he shall be delivered to the Gentiles and shall be mocked and scourged and spit upon. And after they have scourged him, they will put him to death. And the third day he shall rise again.
It speaks of the Passion of Christ – and the Passion of Christ speaks of God’s love manifest in Christ; “For God sent not his Son into the world, to judge the world: but that the world may be saved by him.” [John 3:17]. The Church reminds us that this season of Lent is to prepare us to commemorate the Passion, Death and Resurrection. It also serves to remind us that if we have Faith, all things may be accomplished, if we turn to Christ, we will be saved and we will have eternal life with God;
Jesus standing, commanded him to be brought unto him. And when he was come near, he asked him, saying: What wilt thou that I do to thee? But he said: Lord, that I may see. And Jesus said to him: Receive thy sight; thy faith hath made thee whole.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ – do you see how Mother Church comforts, teaches and aids her children to understand and see the meaning of this holy season? Why we observe it? Why we mark ourselves with Ashes? It all for us to experience and share with Our Lord His life, His witness, His Gospel… His Passion, His Death and His Resurrection. It is all with the purpose of cleansing ourselves, developing and nurturing and growing contrite hearts [Psalm 51:17] in pursuit of heaven and eternal life.
I wish you all a holy and blessed Lent. I hope together we might purify ourselves and prepare ourselves with Christ for the great work (Matt. XX. 1-6) that is there for each of us in the vineyard of souls and the in the tilling of fertile hearts (Luke VIII. 4-15).
As always with my love and prayers for you all
The Provost
You must be logged in to post a comment.