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Dear Sisters and Brothers in the Lord:
Wednesday of this week is Ash Wednesday, the beginning
of the Church’s 40-day season of Lent and of our annual journey to
Easter with other Christians and with those who will be initiated into
the Church at the Easter vigil on Holy Saturday evening.
Ash Wednesday is perhaps the one weekday, other than
Christmas, when Catholics go to Church in good numbers. Being marked
with ashes as a sign of mortality and repentance is still important in
Catholic liturgical spirituality. The sacramentary states that the
giving of ashes is not to be done apart from a service of the word
and so ashes will be distributed ONLY at
the 8am Mass, the 1pm service and the 7:30pm Mass.
If you wish to receive ashes — please come at these times. The
context of Sacred Scripture avoids the risk of conveying the impression
that the sacraments and sacramentals of the church are by themselves
holy things that ‘give grace’ automatically without regard for the
personal responsibility of being open to the presence of Christ in the
scriptures and rituals of the day.
The readings for Ash Wednesday call all followers of
Christ to undertake the discipline of Lent in a spirit of dependence on
the Lord mindful of the grace that this season brings – ‘This great
season of grace is your gift to your family to renew us in spirit’.
(Preface of Lent II) The gospel teaching to do our Lenten works in
secret warns against a spiritual pride that can destroy the good that we
intend to do. After the readings and homily, the ashes are blessed and
sprinkled with holy water. The faithful come forward to be signed with
the ashes in the form of a cross. The ritual incorporates three
symbols: the ashes — a sign of death and repentance; the cross — the
paradox of life through death; the water — a reminder of our baptism
into Christ. These three together signify our willingness to embrace a
way of life that will lead to Easter glory, to which we are committed
through our baptism, and which demands dying to ourselves over and
over again in order to live more deeply the new life offered by Christ.
Two forms of words are provided for the giving of the
ashes: the old formula: ‘Remember you are dust…’ and the new: ‘Turn
away from sin and be faithful to the gospel’. The first is a clear
reminder of our mortality; the second an unambiguous call to conversion
and gospel living. The latter form is more likely to resonate with
today’s spirituality. It also resonates with the challenge to
pattern one’s life on the model of the gospel that is central to the
catechumenate. Following the giving of the ashes, the rite concludes
with the general intercessions.
The text of the prayer over the gifts on Ash Wednesday
brings together the works of Lent— the celebration of the death and
resurrection of Christ the Lord, the cleansing from sin and the renewal
of spirit. Relating Lent to Easter is an important element of the entire
Lenten observance. A prayerful Ash Wednesday observance goes a long way
in helping believers to enter the season in the spirit of the church’s
Lenten observance. The communal prayer experience, the ritual of the
ashes, the familiar Lenten readings and hymns provide the context out
of which the journey of renewal and continuing conversion proceeds.
Let’s give our minds and hearts to the Lord this Lenten
Season!
Father Joe |
