Ash Wednesday
Cycle A
Saint Margaret Parish, Bel Air
March 5, 2014 6:30am
Ashes in a Fireplace
Probably all of us have sat near a fireplace.
Probably some of you have fireplaces in your homes. We all know that in a real, wood-burning
fireplace, the wood burns and goes up the chimney in smoke.
And we know that the wood leaves behind ashes. The ashes in the hearth are the only thing
that remains of the wood after it has burned.
Ashes as a Symbol
That image tells us something about the meaning of the ashes that we
use today.
The wood in a fireplace leaves behind ashes after it is
burned. The ashes we place on our
forehead are meant to signify the sinfulness we need to leave behind through
our Lenten practices.
They call us to leave behind words or behaviors or attitudes that are
not in sync with the gospel. They call
us to turn more fully to the Lord.
How are we to do this? The gospel for this Ash Wednesday mentions
three spiritual practices: charitable giving, prayer, and fasting.
My thought is that some fasting from food during Lent is the
key. It may lead to the other two
practices – charitable giving and prayer – and it will also lead to ashes, to
leaving behind the ashes of our sinfulness.
Fasting as the Key
The Church calls us to fast – to reduce and limit the amount of
food we eat on two days: today, Ash
Wednesday and Good Friday. The Church
also asks us to abstain from eating meat today and on all the Fridays of Lent.
And the Church asks us to consider adopting some form of fasting
or self-denial that is personal to ourselves – maybe giving up desserts or
beer, things like that. Our fasting has
three purposes.
First, the experience of a little bit of physical hunger helps us
to experience our spiritual hunger for God.
It is only God who can satisfy this deeper hunger within us. In this way, our fasting can lead to prayer.
Second, our voluntary experience of hunger can create a bond with
those who are hungry without choosing it.
It bonds us with those who are in need. In this way, our fasting can lead to
charitable giving.
And third, fasting from food often connects us with some behavior
from which we need to fast.
For example, maybe we need to fast from making the negative points
of someone the constant topic of conversation.
In this way, our fasting can lead to ashes – to leaving behind the ashes
of some sinfulness in our lives.
Conclusion
With those thoughts, we now bless and have ashes imposed on our
foreheads. And we allow these ashes to
remind us of what we need to leave behind this Lent.
