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From the Pastor... Ash Wednesday |
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"Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel." These, or similar words, are what we will hear said to us this coming Wednesday, as ashes are placed on our foreheads. Our churches will be fairly full, and those who don't usually come to Mass regularly will be sitting next to those who do. It is an opportunity for us all to observe the fact that not one of us is without need to change, something, about our personal lives. Whether we are "faithful" Catholics, or have drifted away for one of too many reasons, Ash Wednesday calls us to new beginnings. The ashes and the call to repentance is not some magic formula that puts us on the right track all by itself. The words and the gestures which are so much a part of our annual celebration are to be for us an outward sign of what we know needs to be an interior work. God's grace is given us, but it is us who have to use that grace to effect change in our lives. Without an awesome amount of effort on our part, personally, the gesture of placing ashes and speaking of words will remain empty. Even the many disciplines of Lent ahead of us - fasting, abstaining from meat on Fridays, stations of the cross, extra prayer or an extra Mass or two during the week - can only be helps to us if we are aware of our need for God's grace, and open to accepting His will in our lives. Let's face it. How many Lents have we lived through? Are we really different from the first time we lived these forty days before Easter? If yes, then kudos. Praise God for his mercy and love. But if "not really", then what needs to take place for change to be real, and lasting? What have I not seen, or admitted to in prior years that causes me to "do" the stuff of Lent, but not become any more "holy" in my life? I believe that many of us have grown accustomed to sin and weakness in our lives, and are oblivious to the extent to which even the smallest of things keeps us from experiencing the fullness of God's love. Many of us have come to accept things the way they are, even when we know them to be less than we would like. We find the fault with others around us, spouses, family members, bosses, teachers, priests, anyone we have issues of any kind with, and feel our disenchantment with life is due to their influence. Perhaps with good cause, at least in some cases, we can indeed put some responsibility at the feet of those with whom we share life. But not one of us can claim that we have not contributed in some way to our own difficulties or at least the inability to reach healing. If we started with looking at the faults we all possess, then we may see ways to move beyond them, and in so doing find ways to move beyond the obstacles placed before us by others. God sees much more potential in us than we will ever see in ourselves. I believe that with all my heart. God does not short-change any of us, nor does he work to hold us back. Rather, God waits for us to get tired of accepting the status quo, and seek Him as the only one who can bring us to all that we were intended to be, in life, and for others. We may not like to consider the weaknesses we so readily come to believe are ours to hold onto, but without doing it, we will never see the strength that God is so freely offering. Ashes, words, gestures. They will always be empty until we seek the meaning intended behind them. Without fear we can open ourselves to the healing power of God's grace, and Lent is the time to focus on this alone. May this Lent be different. May we finally allow ourselves to become what God knows we want to be. |
