Next Wednesday Lent begins as it always does, with the imposition of ashes. Why ashes? The Old Testament speaks of three important spiritual attitudes associated with ashes: mortality, repentance, and intercessory prayer.
MORTALITY: Immediately after the Fall, God reminds our first parents that they were created from the earth and “unto dust” they shall return. We Christians believe in the Resurrection. Therefore, for us, death is not a morbid thought at all. Indeed, it prompts us to take life very seriously and to make the very best use of every day and of the present moment of every day. We know that, at death, we will be judged by how well we practiced the double commandment of love, the spirit of the beatitudes, and the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. Lent is a sober reminder that a concrete love of God and neighbor is life’s highest spiritual priority. For this reason, let’s frequently remind ourselves during the days of Lent how we can better love God and neighbor –not in the abstract but in the concrete and nitty-gritty of our daily lives with family, friends, colleagues, enemies, and strangers—and especially with the marginalized and less fortunate.
REPENTANCE: Do any of us need to be reminded that we are sinners? We confess that fact in the penitential rite at the beginning of every Mass and frequently in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Lent is the liturgical season when we take especially seriously the need to undergo whatever conversion of life or of thought or of action is necessary to become the person and the Christian that God calls us to be. For many, repentance may not include so much conversion from sin but a conversion to do the good that we have neglected to do or to forgive the hurt that we have thus far been unwilling or unable to forgive, and so on. Therefore, during these forty days let’s frequently take the state of our heart to God in quiet prayer. Let God heal whatever needs to be healed or forgiven. And let God prompt in us whatever concrete good we still need to do.
INTERCESSORY PRAYER: When her people were threatened with extinction, Queen Esther covered herself in ashes and prayed fervently to God for their deliverance, and her intercessory prayer on their behalf was heard. Let’s pray during this Season for ourselves, for our family and friends, and for our very troubled Church and pandemic-hurting world. Let’s learn to pray as that great woman prayed –with perseverance, humility, and confidence.
Prayer, fasting, almsgiving: these Lenten practices take on a deeper meaning when they are coupled with an appreciation of our mortality, our need for conversion and repentance, and our duty to pray for ourselves, for others, and for our Church and world!
Rev. Lewis S. Fiorelli, OSFS
Provincial
Wilmington-Philadelphia Province
