SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
(Leviticus 13: 1-2.44-46; I Corinthians 10: 31-11: 1: Mark
1: 40-45)
We anticipate issues with the imposition of
ashes this Wednesday. Some will react to the way we do it. Because of Covid, Church
ministers have been instructed not to make a cross with ashes on the forehead.
Instead of the conventional way, the bishops want us to sprinkle ashes upon people’s
heads. The discontented will say that they do not want to be deprived of an old
tradition. They will also claim that they want to demonstrate their faith by
having a cross on their forehead this one day of the year.
However, Christians have shown their faith since ancient
times in a more convincing way. Ancient texts exhort the faithful to
demonstrate their faith with acts of charity. True followers of Jesus listen
and help those in need as if they were him. Saint Mother Teresa had it right
when she said that the poor are "Jesus in disguise."
The ashes, formed in a cross on our forehead or sprinkled on
our hair, actually indicate something else. They tell the world that we are
sinners. We remember that one of the sayings accompanying the imposition of
ashes is: "Repent and believe in the gospel." We are to repent of our
sins every day and particularly during the forty days of Lent. Ashes are like
the scarlet letter "A" that a woman wears on her dress in a famous
American novel. Because she committed adultery, the woman is forced to acknowledge
her sin to everyone. Maybe our sins are not as serious as adultery, but they
offend God and undermine the church’s mission of evangelization. It seems fair
that we acknowledge and do something to compensate for them.
But as hard as we try, it is not possible to compensate God
for our sins. We continue to long after the wrong things, be they vanities that
engulf the soul, pleasures that pamper the body, or hatred that poison the
spirit. Only Jesus Christ, obedient to God from the beginning, can do what is
required for salvation. So we have to turn to him as the leper in the gospel.
The leper does not demand anything of Jesus. He only tells
him: "'If you want to, you can heal me.'” He knows that he is in a sorry
situation and only Jesus can save him. According to the first reading, he has
to announce wherever he goes, "Unclean, unclean!" We need to recognize that our situation is
like his. This is the purpose of going to church this Wednesday. By receiving
the ashes, we say to the world: "Unclean, unclean!"
We can count on Jesus to cleanse us. He came into the world
to support us. He says to us as well as to the leper: "'Be made clean!'"
Because he is God, his very words achieve what they say. To us today he says
these words through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
We should feel the relief immediately. Our sins will no
longer be our ruin. However, they will cost Jesus tremendously. He will suffer
the torture of the cross for them. We see a rehearsal of this suffering in this
gospel passage. It says that the cured leper “began to publicize the whole
matter” so that “it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly.” Before it
was the leper who could not enter any town openly. Now it is Jesus whose
movement is restricted. As with our sins, Jesus takes the leper's burden on his
shoulders.
On Wednesday the season of Lent begins. We will undertake a
pilgrimage, not alone or only with the faithful of the Church. Rather we march
with Jesus himself. He is there to support us in our efforts to show our love
to God the Father. We do this in three ways. We deprive ourselves of material
goods to show that we are sorry for our sins. We help the poor who are God's
special friends. And we tell God of our affection in prayer.
