Ash Wednesday (Wednesday, February 14, 2024)

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be alway acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, our Strength and our Salvation. Amen.

Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent, 40 days of fasting as we walk with Jesus toward his Cross and Easter. And we begin this season by receiving an ashen cross on the forehead. The ash cross is a reminder of our baptismal identity, recalling the fact that after our Baptisms, we are signed with Sacred Chrism on the forehead in the sign of the cross. But the cross we receive today is made of ash because it reminds us of our mortality, the fact that all of us will one day die. And in so doing, this Ash Wednesday calls us to live lives of integrity where our outward actions match our internal disposition.

The Ash Wednesday readings confront us with a tension. On the one hand, our reading from Joel and the Gospel seem to indicate that we should be inward focused: “rend your heart, not your garments”; “be not as the hypocrites.” On the other hand, we do see an external-focus as well: “sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: gather the people, sanctify the congregation.” So the question, and one that does get raised sometimes, is whether we should even be engaging in these “outward motions.” If we carefully read the Scriptures, I think we would say the answer is yes, these outward practices are valuable but only when done with integrity.

Integrity relieves the tension. Integrity means acting as a unified whole, it’s when the internal and external match. A good Israelite in Joel’s day wouldn’t have neglected the external practices; they would have, or rather should have, brought their whole lives into harmony with what God was calling them to do, which was live lives characterized by repentance. The same is true for those of us trying to be disciples today. These outward practices that the Church’s liturgy has us undergo are there to catechize, train, and help us. But we also can’t let them stay “outward,” embracing the form of godliness while rejecting its power. These practices must become internalized, they must become part of who we are.

And on Ash Wednesday, we do this by remembering that we will die: dust to dust, ashes to ashes. We recall our mortality not in a nihilistic exercise in futility, but as a way of asking what needs to change right now? The things we have will go away, our possessions will rust and rot, our achievements will be forgotten. The question is whether we are are, with God’s grace, focusing on developing those things that will last, chiefly faith, hope, and love. And so I encourage you to come with us on this 40-day Lenten journey and I would ask you to focus on your dependence on God by fasting, receiving the Eucharist frequently, praying, giving to the poor, engaging in serious self-examination, making your confession. These aren’t things to check off on your to do list; they’re opportunities for God’s grace to work from the outside in. Turn thou us, O good Lord, and so shall we be turned.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.