ASH WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 2014 READING: ISAIAH 58:1-2 MEDITATION: What’s with that stuff on your forehead? Who hasn’t gotten that question on Ash Wednesday before? Do you feel silly when people ask you about your ashes? And is it hard to answer their questions? What most people notice on Ash Wednesday is that an awful lot of Christians are running around with ashes smudged on their foreheads. The ashes are made from the blessed palms used in the Palm Sunday celebration from the year prior. They are christened with Holy Water and are scented by incense. They are a symbol of penance and contrition, which is why believers are told Remember, Man is dust, and unto dust you shall return when he/she receives the ashes. While throughout the day the ashes may turn into more of a smudge, they are actually applied to the forehead as the sign of the cross. True, the Bible does not mention Ash Wednesday or the custom of Lent, however, the practice of repentance and mourning in ashes is found in 2 Samuel 13:19; Esther 4:1; Job 2:8; Daniel 9:3; and Matthew 11:21. The origin of the custom of using ashes in religious ritual is lost in the mists of pre-history, but we find references to the practice in our own religious tradition in the Old Testament. So having ashes on your forehead isn’t just some weird Catholic thing: it’s a tradition that finds its roots in the Old Testament. The prophet Jeremiah, for example, calls for repentance this way: O daughter of my people, gird on sackcloth, roll in the ashes (Jeremiah 6:26). The prophet Isaiah, on the other hand, critiques the use of sackcloth and ashes as inadequate to please God, but in the process he indicates that this practice was well-known in Israel: Is this the manner of fasting I wish, of keeping a day of penance: that a man bow his head like a reed, and lie in sackcloth and ashes? Do you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? (Isaiah 58:5). The prophet Daniel pleaded for God to rescue Israel with sackcloth and ashes as a sign of Israels repentance: “I turned to the Lord God, to seek help, in prayer and petition, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes” (Daniel 9:3). Perhaps the best known example of repentance in the Old Testament also involves sackcloth and ashes. When the prophet Jonah finally obeyed Gods command and preached in the great city of Nineveh, his preaching was amazingly effective. Word of his message was carried to the king of Nineveh. When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in the ashes (Jon 3:6). In the book of Judith, we find acts of repentance that specify that the ashes were put on peoples heads: And all the Israelite men, women and children who lived in Jerusalem prostrated themselves in front of the temple building, with ashes strewn on their heads, displaying their sackcloth covering before the Lord (Judith 4:11; see also 4:15 and 9:1). Just prior to the New Testament period, the rebels fighting for Jewish independence, the Maccabees, prepared for battle using ashes: That day they fasted and wore sackcloth; they sprinkled ashes on their heads and tore their clothes (1 Mc 3:47; see also 4:39). In the New Testament, Jesus refers to the use of sackcloth and ashes as signs of repentance: Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes (Matthew 11:21, Luke 10:13). So, on the day that is called Ash Wednesday, when the ashes are placed on our foreheads in the sign of the Cross, it is a reminder of several things. First, it is a call to repentance: a physical sign that we are sinners in need of forgiveness, which is how the prophets used it in the Old Testament. Second, it is to remind us that God created us from the earth and when we die, we will return to it. But here’s the best part: As Pope Benedict XVI had said, “Man is dust and to dust he shall return, but dust is precious in Gods eyes because God created man, destining him to immortality.” God so loves us that, even when our bodies return to the dust, our souls are meant to live forever with him. The ashes symbolize all of this. Not so silly anymore, is it? What do you appreciate about this holy season? How have you prepared yourself to begin Lent 2014? Did you make any permanent spiritual progress from last year until now? Are there specific things you need to repent of during this season? You know, there are many spiritual undercurrents from our past which we may never have brought to the Lord in humble repentance, and these may turn around to really haunt us. RESOLUTIONS: • List some specific sinful behaviors from your past that you need to bring before the Lord in humble repentance • Identify some ways you have encouraged, lured or led others to sin in the past and ask the Lord for forgiveness • Spend time in prayer talking to the Lord about your present spiritual state. Be thoroughly honest with him. PRAYER: Lord God, give me a lively faith, a firm hope, a fervent charity, and a great love of you. Take from me all lukewarmness in the meditation of your word, and dullness in prayer. Give me fervor and delight in thinking of you and your grace, and fill me with compassion for others, especially those in need, that I may respond with generosity.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 11:15:40 +0000
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