Ash Wednesday

Masses and Distribution of Ashes on Ash Wednesday:

St Michael’s 9.20

St Joseph’s 10.00; 7.30 pm

Next Wednesday we begin Lent 2012. Ash Wednesday is a day that is special to a huge number of people in this country and beyond: So many want to wear the ashes on their foreheads on this day. Thousands of students in UCC go to the Honan Chapel for the ashes. I remember being down there last year or the year before and I saw this long queue from the library to the chapel: students waiting to be signed with the ashes at one of several services in the Honan on that day.

            Receiving the ashes on the first day of Lent is an expression of our identity as Christians. The ashes on our forehead tells us who we are. The words spoken by the priest/minister when placing the ashes on the forehead tell us about ourselves. There are two alternative wordings: ‘Repent, and believe in the Gospel’; ‘Remember you are dust and unto dust you shall return’. Traditionally the second form of words was used: ‘Remember you are dust and unto dust you shall return’. These are pretty gloomy words, essentially true but they only give half the picture. Certainly, we will all die and decay. That the biggest names in the world – the greatest stars, the mega wealthy, the political giants – share the same fate as the impoverished beggar is a salutary lesson. Pope and pauper share the same mortality. The ashes on Wednesday next acts as a great leveller. ‘Remember you are dust and unto dust you shall return’ is one possible expression of who we are. But it does not tell the whole story.

            The bigger picture tells us that while we die and decay we still have a glorious future. We rise again to share in the new life of Christ. That is why the form of words we use in recent years when placing the ashes on the forehead is more appropriate: ‘Repent, and believe in the Gospel.’ These are the words of Christ as he began his ministry (Mark 1: 15). It is first of all an acknowledgement of our sinfulness, our need to repent. But it is also an invitation to faith, belief in the Gospel, the Good News. This good news tells us that we have a future beyond sin and beyond death. We have the possibility of being part of the community of love that is God for all eternity. This is a life that begins at baptism and grows through the years until it reaches its completion after death.

            Lent is a time to focus on who we are as Christians or, more precisely, who we are called to be. We have wonderful potential: Lent is the season when we have the opportunity to realize that potential. Two words define Lent: repent and believe, the words spoken on Ash Wednesday when the ashes is signed on our foreheads: ‘Repent, and believe in the Gospel.’ Since childhood we have been encouraged to give up things for Lent. As adults many of us welcome the occasion to give up things so as to lose weight and become fit. That is all laudatory but it hardly touches on the real meaning of Lent. Lent is essentially about repentance and faith: ‘Turn away from sin and believe in the Gospel.’ How that is done in practice is largely left up to ourselves. We do have a day of fast and abstinence on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. A day of fast means having just one full meal and two smaller meals (collations). A day of abstinence is a day when we refrain from eating meat.  Traditionally, every Friday of the year was a day of abstinence from meat but, nowadays, it is left to ourselves to decide how we will do penance in Lent and throughout the year. There is a lot to be said for taking on the voluntary penance of no meat on Fridays. If we manage to do it in Lent then we may decide to continue it for the rest of the year.

            Here in Glanmire the huge increase in people attending daily Mass in Lent is very inspiring. Not everyone can do that but, for those who can, it is a most positive thing to do. Masses are available in city centre churches at all times of the day, especially at lunch time. Finally, Lent wouldn’t be Lent without some outreach to others; the sick in hospitals and nursing homes; people living alone; voluntary groups who are always seeking volunteers; and so many more. May Lent 2012 be a time of renewal for all of us. May we hear these words of Christ in a new and profound way: ‘Repent, and believe in the Gospel.’