Ash Wednesday
Cycle B
Saint Margaret Parish, Bel Air
February 18, 2015 12:15pm
Lent and Fasting
Many, many of us come to church today.
It is almost like a self-proclaimed holyday of obligation. There is something about Ash Wednesday and
having ashes placed upon our forehead that just draws us here.
I think that the words that are used when we are signed with the
ashes help to explain the power of this symbol and what draws us here. There are two expressions in the Missal, and
either can be used.
We may hear: “Remember that
you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” We know that we are created by God and we
will return to God and we know that we need to be reminded that we will not be
here forever.
And the other expression is: “Repent
and believe in the gospel.” That
expression touches us because we know that this is what we have to do if we are
going to live whatever time we have on this earth well and wisely.
So, the ashes get us started in this special season that we call
Lent. Jesus in the gospel mentions three
standard spiritual practices of his day: charitable giving, prayer, and
fasting.
Those practices are the core of this Lenten season. And, as I see it, fasting is the pivotal
practice because it leads to prayer and charity and then all of that leads to
true repentance.
Fasting as the Key
The Church calls us to fast – to limit the amount of food we eat
on two days: today and on 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
or wine or ice cream, 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,
to making time to reflect, to express ourselves to God and to listen to God
speak to us in the Scripture.
Second, our voluntary experience of hunger helps to create a bond
with those who are hungry without choosing it.
It gives us a sensitivity to those who are in need. In this way, our fasting can lead us to charity
and to do what we can to assist others.
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 talking negatively about
others or always putting ourselves and our own preferences first. This is what repentance means and that, of
course, is to be the real result of our fasting and prayer and charity during this
season of Lent.
