ASH WEDNESDAY: 2009
The beginning of the season of Lent
(Lent is an old English word meaning 'lengthen'. Lent is observed in spring, when the days begin to get longer)
"Yes, even now", says the Lord, "return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
and rend your hearts and not your graments."
Return to the Lord, your God,
for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger,
and abounding in steadfast love,
and repents of evil." (Joel 2: 12-13)
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ASH WEDNESDAY HOMILY
"In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke,
immediately after his baptism,
Jesus is lead or driven into the desert by the Holy Spirit.
He goes into the desert to fast and pray.
The ancient imagination makes calls explicit,
has the person responding positively,
but then the call is tested immediately.
Once you know who you are,that identity is challenged.
We are Christians.
That is the name that describes the identity that comes with baptism.
This season of Lent takes us deeper into the meaning of our baptism;deeper into the dying and rising of Jesus.
To greater understanding, if only on an intuitive level,of the paschal mystery in our own lives.
The Gospel mentions three classical practices fasting, praying and giving alms.
These are not mere mechanical rituals.These practices are designed to bring us to greater self-awareness.
What happens to me when I am hungry?What happens to my patience?To my generosity of spirit?What happens to my perseverance?Emptiness of stomach is a way to learn about other kinds of emptiness.
What happens to me when I am giving alms?When I am going to let go of extra stuff in my life?Where are my attachments?Am I aware of those who are in need,of those who need my love and my care?
Again and again we are told that Jesus goes off to pray by himself. We can romanticize this,but we pray the same psalms that Jesus did.We may think of this as one divine being speaking to another divine being.I don't think so.I think it is Jesus, the beloved,bringing his experience to God,trying to understand the path to Jerusalem.So when Jesus tells his disciples to pray in solitude,he is merely telling us to do what he himself does.
These practices are not designed to focus me ever more deeply on my self but rather to illuminate those ways in which my self looms large unnoticed on a daily basis.
The whole point is to be drawn more deeply into the salvation won for us by Christ.To be a Christian, through and through. "
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COURTESY: Abbot John Klassen, OSB
www.saintjohnsabbey.org/
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