Ash Wednesday: "now is the favourable time, this is the day of salvation"

Let your hearts be broken, not your garments torn,

Turn to the Lord your God again,

for he is all tenderness and compassion,

slow to anger, rich in graciousness

and ready to relent. (Joel 2:13)

At the favourable time, I have listened to you; on the day of salvation I came to your help. Well, now is the favourable time, this is the day of salvation. (2 Cor 6:2)

Lent can be a time of trial and discomfort, but there is a much deeper joy to this holy season than may be immediately apparent. The first beginnings of Spring, after the harsh Winter months, bring comfort to the soul. People usually take stock, do some spring-cleaning, throw away useless things amassed during the dark days that have just been. We Christians also have been given a time of spiritual spring-cleaning, we call it Lent or Quadragesima (the 40 days). It is a time of special grace, when God draws near to heal our broken lives.

The Church moves up a few gears during Lent, providing the faithful with spiritual weapons against temptation and sin. We are encouraged to make a three-fold attack against the evil one and against our own darker desires. The weapons used in this attack are prayer, fasting and almsgiving. These three things attack the evil one by helping us to discipline our bodies, minds, and spirits.

Prayer:

This discipline requires the sacrifice of time, and during Lent it is always good to get up earlier and join those in the desert, who pray the psalms before dawn (cf Ps 119:147). Prayer also brings us closer to God – especially silent prayer, when He is allowed to bathe us in love and peace. Prayer strengthens hearts against the temptations of our weak flesh. It unites us to the human race more so than any other activity. Those who pray share in the intimate life of Jesus Christ, grow in wisdom, learn the art of loving, and know peace. Christ has more room to live within an ever decreasing ego - which can be reigned in by prayer and meditation.

Fasting:

Is also a discipline worth practising. Fasts train our bodies, which are often prone to self-indulgence and gluttony – well, mine is! By fasting we can begin to use the gift of self-control, which the Holy Spirit has given us. We were confirmed with a spirit of courage and self-control, not one of timidity (cf 2 Tim 1:7). By controlling our wants to concentrate on the most basic of needs we mature, become men and women, and unite ourselves to those whose wants are ours needs. As hard as not eating meat or drinking alcohol might be, it is nothing compared to the suffering of so many – those whose poverty cry to the Lord for vengeance (cf Ps 34:7).

Fasting is also the act of one who mourns, who grieves a loss. Our Lord told his disciples that when the bridegroom is taken away, they will be given unto fasting (Mk 2:19). We, children of the Most High, mourn over our sins, our disobedience, our rebellions - all of which Christ freely heals through his sorrowful Passion and Death. We also mourn him, too - the Christ our souls long to see, like a deer pines for living streams (cf. Ps 42:2-3).

Alms-giving:

As the early fathers said, giving to the poor "is not charity, but justice" (cf St Augustine of Hippo). All things belong to God, and He desires that all things be shared amongst all men, of whom He has no favourites (Gal 2:6). It is our Christian mission to share, to rejoice in giving and not count the cost – as the community of apostles and early Christians once did (Acts 2:44-45). We should all be monks – giving away all that is superfluous so that we may be liberated and our brothers and sisters may be fed, clothed and sheltered.

By being generous we are freed to love, and room is made in our hearts for God’s love, grace and peace. The soul can then concentrate on the higher things – and on death, the doorway to our hidden but real life in God. Shrouds have no pockets they say, so let us empty ours – gaining for ourselves a treasure which never fades away, and an inheritance which cannot be corrupted. Let our love for others be real (Rm 12:9) – showing itself in works of justice, mercy and joyful giving to those loved by God, the righteous and the unrighteous together (1 Peter 3:18).

Death - the wages of our sin (cf Rm 6:23)

It is good for us to be humbled, to remember that we are under sentence of death. This sentence will one day be carried out – justice demands this. We are all on death-row, awaiting the mercy of God and the Resurrection of the Dead.

The words used in today’s liturgy bring to mind this awful truth, “Remember, man, that thou art dust and to dust thou shalt return" (cf Gen 3:19). Let this phrase guide us through Lent, and through life - may it be a humble antidote to pride. The popes and caesars of old were likewise reminded during their coronations that they would surely die - that the glories of this world were nothing, and less than nothing. We, too, need to be reminded that whatever trials befall us, or whatever glories we attain in this short life, should not disturb our foremost relationship with God - in whom there is no alteration or shadow of change (cf James 1:17). He is our destiny - He who casts the mighty from their thrones and raises the lowly from the dung-heap (Lk 1:52).

The Day of Ashes - begins a penitential season

The Dies Cinerum, or Ash Wednesday as it is now called, used to be the beginning of a long public penance for those Christians who had either been excommunicated or barred from the sacraments due to sin. Bishops would bless sackcloth and ashes for these poor souls to wear during the forty days leading up to Easter. Outward signs were to represent an inner repentance, as well as public shame and humiliation.

The Pontificale Romanum used to prescribe that after receiving sackcloth and ashes, penitents were to be “expelled from the holy place (the Church) on account of their sins, just as Adam was driven out of Paradise for his disobedience.” They were not allowed to take off the sackcloth or re-enter the Church until the Easter Triduum. During the 40 days of trail, penance and hard toil, and after sacramental confession and absolution, these poor men and women were welcomed home, justified and united to Christ.

During the Council of Beneventum (1091) Pope Urban VI decreed that ashes should be received by all the faithful at the beginning of Lent, and that all should join in this public act of repentance – for everyone falls short of the glory of God. Let us, then, accept the ashes of penance and mourning – as an outward sign of inner repentance. But let us also, as Christ teaches, been seen to rejoice, to be cheerful in spirit, and to be anointed with fragrances and oils (cf Mt 6:17). Let us not be like the Pharisees, for we see this season not so much as a time when we go without and are pained, but rather as a time when God fills our cup to overflowing with love, mercy and grace!

[Picture note: Top: "Temptation of Christ" by Duccio di Buoninsegna, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Siena; this image is in the public domain; source: Wikimedia Commons (here). Middle: "Almsgiving" fresco by Domenico di Bartolo, Sala del Pellegrinaio in the Hospital Santa Maria della Scala, Siena; this image, photographed by Jastrow, has been released into the public domain; source: Wikimedia Commons (here). Bottom: Penitents queue for Confession, from Wilhelm Pichler's Katholisches Religionsbüchlein für die unteren Klassen der Volksschule. Vienna, 1920. Author of the work: Philipp Schumacher (1866 -1940); this image is in the public domain - copyright expired; source: Wikimedia Commons (here)]

This post is an edited version of last year's post (here).

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For any who might be in London today, may I make the suggestion that you attend the 5:30pm Mass at Westminster Cathedral. The Choir will sing Allegri's Miserere me, Deus during Mass - one of the best renditions one is likely to hear. Otherwise, the Bromtpon Oratory Choir will also be singing the same piece at the 6.30pm Mass - which I'm sure will be just as beautiful.