Introduction
- With the Ash Wednesday we being our Lenten season. At this point of the liturgical year, it is good to remember some important things about Lenten season.
o We have 40 days of lent, beginning from today and ends with Holy Thursday – Mass of the Lord’s Supper.
o It is based on the fasting of our Lord Jesus Christ’s fasting for 40 days in desert.
o Usually there will not be any decoration of the alter or the other parts of the chapel with flowers or expensive materials. It reminds us that we should practice simplicity during this season – simplicity in our dressing, make up, food, life style, etc.
o During the masses in the Lenten season, no ‘Gloria’ is said/sung, and the readings are related to the themes of sacrifice, passion, penance etc. It declares that we meditate and participate in the passion and death of our Savior and prepare for the resurrection.
o It is the time to make renewal through confession.
o The formula used for today’s imposition of ashes is ‘turn away from sins and be faithful to the Gospel’ or ‘remember you are dust, and to dust you will return’. It reminds us the call to repent. It is also a reminder that we are pilgrims here on earth and we have to go one day from this world leaving everything behind.
Body – Prayer, Arms giving, and Penance.
- Todays gospel teaches how to live in this Lenten season. The three important things that we have to practice during this season is – prayer, arms giving, and fasting.
- Prayer, arms giving, and fasting were considered to be three pillars of Jewish righteousness. These things were misused very much at the time of Jesus. It became a ‘showy business’, - to please people than God.
- ASH may be explained as the accronim of these three important virtues. A – arms giving, S – sacrifice (fasting), and H – holiness (prayer).
- The mentality behind these three virtues
o Prayer – the one who prays declares that he is fragile and in need of Divine help for his survival. It is the total dependence on God by accepting our limitations.
o Fasting – with our suffering there is no victory. Jesus entered into the joy of resurrection through suffering and death.
o Arms giving – it fosters the mentality that the material things that I have is not mine, but of God’s. I am just a keeper of the material blessings. Therefore it is my duty to distribute among those who are in need as a good steward.
Conclusion
- Let us renew our life through prayer, arms giving, and fasting during this Lenten season, by becoming aware of the real spirit of those things.
- Let us do it with the right intention – no to show to the people but to fulfil the expectation of our heavenly Father. ‘God who see every secret things we do, would reward us’.
