How often do we wish that we had more time for pleasure, for renewing our energy, for working on those things we never have time to do? Here you have it—Lent! The word Lent means springtime. We all know what happens in spring. The earth has no power over the crocus, tulip, and daffodil. With determination, their buds push forth and renew the beauty within. The sun is warmer, our spirits are lifted, and our hope is renewed. Is there any reason Lent cannot do the same for us in this spring season, with its full makeover?
The disciplines for this are simply Christian disciplines that are a part of daily living: prayer, turning toward God’s presence; fasting, avoiding or removing anything that stands in the way of being who I am in God’s plan, and almsgiving—giving preference to those in need with faithful stewardship of my blessings.
Yet, on Ash Wednesday, we seem to do these things with greater determination and sincerity. It is God’s invitation to “return to me with your whole heart.” The great numbers who come to church on Ash Wednesday says that there is something attractive to us about that invitation. What does this day, this ritual of receiving ashes, this season do for our lives? Perhaps it is simply in our Catholic DNA, it’s what we do on Ash Wednesday—receive ashes and wear them publicly on our foreheads throughout the day until we wash them off in the evening. Yet, even that says something. We are connected by this outward sign. We are marked by this gritty cross as a people.
Ashes are not a symbol of greatness or purity of heart, rather, it admits our weakness as sinners. We have “knots” and Lent can bring a deep and profound change of the heart. We take on penance, not as an endurance contest, or a way of ridding ourselves of addictions or indulgences, but as a tool for becoming free from the dry, hard earth that keeps the buds beneath it. It’s not a sudden conversion. A lot has been going on under the soil. God is at work in us—always. God has placed the bulbs in winter’s soil, the ones that will flourish with new life.
Our Ash Wednesday, March 1: Mass and Liturgy of the Word schedule is:
7:00 & 8:30 AM Eucharist with distribution of ashes
12:00 & 4:30 PM Liturgy of the Word with distribution of ashes