JoeEruppakkatt

Ash Wednesday and Beyond

I was celebrating Mass on an Ash Wednesday morning in a certain church in New York City. One person, who came late, missed the ceremony of the imposition of ashes. But when the time for Holy Communion came, he too lined up with others. I extended to him the precious body of Christ. Looking at me scornfully for a while and pointing his finger at me he said: “not that stuff, gi’mme the powder!”

He was one of those who visit the church once a year for obtaining the ‘powder stuff’. Although the man was desperate to get the ashes on Ash Wednesday, he missed the spirit and message of the celebration.

In most part of the world, Ash Wednesday attracts even the most unchurched Catholics to the church to collect some ashes for themselves. I have seen in some cities how elaborate arrangements are made to meet the demands for ashes. Those who can’t attend church service are given ashes at any convenient time and place, as a pinch of ashes contains some magic power.
The simple, yet powerful message of Ash Wednesday is contained in the twin formulae used for the imposition of ashes: “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return” and “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel”.

Ash Wednesday and the entire season of Lent is a reminder that we are made of dust and destined to return to the same at our death. It is a reminder of our frailty, corruptibility and mortality. We have no permanent home in this world. All of us have to face death sooner or later which is of course a passage to eternal life.

Ashes also remind us of our moral corruption caused by sin and the need for repentance. At the preaching of Prophet Jonah the king of Nineveh put on sack clothes and sat covered in ashes, calling for a national repentance (Jon 3:6).

Through Prophet Joel the Lord called the people to change their ways: “Come back to me with all your heart, fasting, weeping, mourning. Let your hearts be broken, not your garments torn, turn to Yahweh your God again…” (Joel 2:12-13).

But there is this complementary truth we need to keep in mind: We may be dust, but we are dust that is destined for glory, dust that is to be changed, transfigured into God’s own likeness. True, sin has tarnished and disfigured this composition of dust that we are, but there is always a chance for cleansing, purification and re-creation. God can re-create us and breathe his spirit into us (Ezk 37). There awaits us an immortal, incorruptible and eternal destiny.

Ash Wednesday, therefore, is a day of honest and realistic assessment of our lives. It is the day when we humbly recognize the sinfulness of our nature, and ask God to create in us new and contrite hearts.

Ash Wednesday also calls us to be faithful to the Gospel. In the Gospel we have the good news of salvation. Ash Wednesday is a reminder that we need to enter into the spirit of this good news and make it the foundation of our life. Believing in the Gospel is, believing in Jesus Christ who brings us eternal life.

In the Gospel Jesus give us a set of values and standards different from that of the world. While the world considers the rich and the powerful as truly happy and blessed, the Lord calls the poor, the persecuted, the humble, the weeping, the mourning, the merciful truly happy (Mt 5:3-10). Ash Wednesday is a radical call to live by these values and standards of Jesus.

Ash Wednesday reminds us of the Gospel maxims of humble service, the need for walking the extra mile, for giving away the second tunic, for feeding the hungry, for caring for the sick and the needy, for forgiving the offender, for showing the other cheek, for living in faithfulness to our matrimonial covenant, for being a good Samaritan to our neighbour, for being compassionate and honest in our dealings with others.