WHAT'S ASH WEDNESDAY ALL ABOUT?

 

Return to me with your whole heart, says the Lord.

Joel 2:12 

When I was a kid growing up in Meade County, I used to come to Louisville with my Day a few times a week to pick up supplies for his building material business. We always took Dixie Highway, the mother of all road sign highways! After hundreds of trips and millions of signs, the only one I can remember today, fifty years later, is a huge sign around Waverly Hills. In huge letters, it demanded that its readers “Get right with God!”

“Get right with God!” Students, that is pretty much what this season of Lent is all about! It’s a sacred forty days when we get back on our spiritual paths by reconsidering how far we have strayed from the path and making a u-turn. It’s a time to “get right with God.”

Jesus told us that we are to “love God with our whole hearts, souls and minds and our neighbor as ourselves.”   That is the gold standard, the staring point and the measure of our faith. And so, during Lent, we break that one commandment down and focus on its three components during Lent. We focus on prayer – our relationship to God. We focus on fasting – our relationship to our own appetites. We focus on giving alms – our care and love for others, especially on our suffering poor brothers and sisters. So Lent, really, is about getting back to basics and making the important things important.

At the very beginning of this holy season, Jesus warns us not to play silly little mind games. (1) “When you pray,” he says, “don’t draw attention to yourself. Do it quietly. Make it something between you and God.”  In other words, if you resolve to pray more during this holy season, don’t announce it to everyone that you are going to go to church say the rosary, don’t kneel in the quad in some dramatic public display for all to see, don’t brag to all your friends that you have to go to Mass today because it is your Lenten resolution. No! Keep it between yourself and God. Just slip away quietly. 

(2) “When you fast,” Jesus says, “don’t wear it on your sleeve for everyone to know about! Do it quietly. Make it something between you and God.” In other words, if you resolve to give up beer or chocolate, don’t tell anybody about it. Don’t go wringing your hands letting everybody know about it by complaining about how you are suffering from the tragic loss and how heroic you are for doing it. When you skip a meal or turn down a trip to buy a beer, try not to let anybody know about it. And by the way, the money you save by doing this is NOT to be kept, but given away. Neither is fasting about losing a few pounds for spring break either! 

(3) “When you give alms,” Jesus says, “don’t make a public announcement about your gift or brag about how generous you are.”  Make anonymous contributions to food pantries, charitable organizations, alternative spring break programs or your parish. Don’t even write a check to use as a tax deduction or ask for a plaque to be dedicated in your honor. Try to be as anonymous as possible.  Make it a pure gift.

The whole gospel today is not only about doing good things, but also doing them for the right reason. We do not pray, fast and give alms to gain sympathy or praise from others. We do not pray to be noticed and admired. We do not fast to save money or to lose weight. We fast so that we can experience how much we abuse food and so that we are able to give alms to those who are hungry.

In short, Lent is not about externals, but about an internal shift. It’s about “getting right with God, ourselves and our neighbors.”  It is better not to come up and receive ashes if you are not committed to “getting right with God” in a quiet, private, you-and-God kind of way! God can see right through your hypocrisy and fake religiosity.  Don’t waste your time playing games with God and those around you. The goal here is a serious internal change, getting you heart “right with God.”