Ash Wednesday 2014
M. Rebecca
Joel 2:12-18; 2Cor
5:20-6:2; Mt 6:1-6,16-18
Our Ash
Wednesday liturgy this morning is calling us both to conversion (“Repent and
believe in the good news”) as well as to an awareness of our mortality
(“Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return”). But this does not create for us a sense of
despair or anxiety because we know that the story ends with Easter. Rather, as our Rule states, we “look forward
to holy Easter with joy and spiritual longing” because we know that Lent will
bring us closer to wholeness, immortality, and the risen Christ. St Benedict sees Lent as a time of renewal
and re-‘forming’ our lives by renouncing poor habits and adding good spiritual
practices. The gospel, like the Rule,
invites us to alms-giving, prayer, and greater
ascesis.
I noticed a
parallel in the first reading from the prophet Joel that adds light and depth
to these three gospel precepts. The
first precept Jesus gives to us is about almsgiving. Though our abbey does give material alms, we
as individuals do not own anything
and so we are unable to give personally any material gifts. This is part of our poverty but places even
more importance on our prayer! But there
is an almsgiving that each of us are called to do. Joel says God is “gracious and merciful” and
we are called to be like God who is gracious and merciful. Each of us can give alms in the form
of forgiveness…giving mercy wherever it is needed. This season challenges us to be gracious and to
forgive. So where do I need to show
mercy? Have I held anyone in bondage by
my lack of forgiveness? This is the almsgiving we need to consider.
The second point
Jesus speaks of is prayer. Joel tells us
God is “slow to anger and rich in kindness”.
This should give us great confidence and desire to approach and be with
God. For He desires to lavish His
abundant graces on us this season and is rich in kindness. In other words God wants to show us his love. God wants to nourish us, not to punish us. Br Simeon of Spencer said when we pray or do lectio
what we are seeking at bottom is not mental information or moral guidance or
even sentimental feelings that make us ‘feel’ the presence of God. What we seek deep within is the possibility
of opening ourselves up in prayer to the transforming action of God. Whether conscious or not, we seek a change
in life, a conversion from what is present to something more - something more
like Christ. This is why contemplation
is one of the boldest undertakings - a willingness to be dismantled and made
anew. So this season challenges us to
approach God in confidence praying, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put
a new and right spirit within me”. I
would like to encourage each of us to consciously add some additional prayer to
your daily routine during Lent.
The third
practice Jesus mentions is fasting.
Joel tells us God is “relenting” and so we are given an opportunity to
give up those things that keep us from God.
God relents so we can repent. Paul
tells us to work together to reconcile with God. What is it I need to fast from? A behavior?
An attitude? A thought that keep
me in a rut or out of reality? We fast
to bring us closer to God and so what good is fasting with food if we are not
fasting from the real things that keep us from attentiveness and desire for God
and the coming of the kingdom? Joel
advises us that external gestures must always be matched by a sincere heart and
consistent behavior. Indeed what use is
it to tear our garments if our hearts remain distant from the Lord? So
this season challenges us to let go of things that waste our time and purpose –
to renounce those habits that take our focus away from Christ.
All three
of these practices (almsgiving, prayer, fasting) can really be summed up as “a turning”
– “a turning to the Lord” or what we call conversion. Lent is like our vow of conversion under a
microscope. This is what Lent is
about…turning to God by giving our self away freely – offering our self and making
our very being the alms we give to
the Lord and to each other. It is also by
prayer that we go deeper into the heart and thus turn closer to the Lord…BUT we
must fast from those things that keep us from turning towards God.
As we know
from our Rule, conversion requires both a worker and a workshop. The workshop can be nowhere else than in the
heart of the monk, and the worker has to be someone with access to that heart…who
can get inside the workshop! No one can
do that for us, we are the only one who can enter our heart to find God…a God
who is rich in kindness, gracious, relenting and merciful. We must go in secret to that inner chamber
and descend into the heart. An
authentic descent into this secret chamber will bring us to the humble reality
of our tininess but it will also bring us to God who patiently awaits us. It is God who will “enlarge our hearts” when
we receive him there.
As well as receiving
ashes today, we will also receive our Lenten books this morning. I really
enjoy this monastic practice and I always feel like we are getting a Christmas
present to begin our Lenten journey. It
is a present that will take 40 days to unwrap!
Each day’s reading is an opportunity to receive a word from Jesus Christ. Each day’s reading is an opportunity to
receive Jesus’ true Presence into our laps; into our hands!. What better gift could we receive? I hope that your Lenten book does this for
you, as well as help you on the pathway through any of your own small Calvary’s…into
Easter Joy. May this ritual add to the positive energy,
spiritual longing, and enthusiasm for each of you this Lenten Season…and may
you enjoy unwrapping your gift…Jesus Christ Himself!
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