Ash Wednesday
(Joel 2:12-18; II Corinthians 5:20-6:2; Matthew 6:1-6.16-18)
People should not come forward to receive ashes today to
show the world they are Catholics. Not
only would this reason indicate an unholy pride, but also an increasing number
of Protestant communities serve ashes. Christians
wear ashes on their foreheads today not to show they are different than other
humans but to show that they are the same.
Like every human being alive today a Christian is a sinner. He or she has loved God’s creation more than
God Himself. Ashes also indicate that,
as in the case of the first human beings, sinners are bound to return to the
earth where they decompose into dirt.
Except for one thing, the fact that Jesus Christ also was
human. For sure, he was the one exception
to the rule that all humans sin. (Mary
will not be considered here as she was conceived and maintained herself without
sin by virtue of being the mother of Jesus.)
Yet Jesus did not shirk from identifying with sinful humans. He was baptized in solidarity with sinners as
the second reading today points out: he who did not know sin was made sin. Indeed, he took all human sins upon himself
so that he might redeem humans by his horrifically unjust Passion and Death.
Ashes should not remain only a sign of our sinfulness. Rather, they should say something of our
intention to rise from our sinfulness as the phoenix of Greek mythology rises
from the ashes of its predecessors. We
do this not by our own efforts, but by faith in Jesus Christ. Our works of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are
but ways of joining Christ, who became like us.
He will lift us up to glory.
