Ash Wednesday

ASH WEDNESDAY

Word & Wisdom is a weekly reflection on the Sunday’s scriptures and the wisdom of the Carmelite tradition. It promises to offer you real spiritual food to sustain you on the journey.

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Transcript

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As we enter into Lent, a path of 40 days, full of rich potential, Ash Wednesday gives us a cry from God that is of real beauty. The watchword of our journeying in Lent is there, right at the opening of the first reading, where God cries out to us, Return to me with all your heart. The overriding cry of the Lord is that he wants us to return to him. Returning denotes repentance and conversion. In Judaism, it is known as Teshuva. Stress is laid on the importance of our free will, in that we can turn back to the Lord if we desire. Edith Stein, a Carmelite saint of Jewish heritage, emphasises the heart when she invites us to make a choice for God. She writes, The Saviour..has spilled his heart's blood to win your heart. This implies sadness in the heart of God because our heart so often turns away from him. God wants our hearts. He wants it both for his sake and for ours. And he asks for it now. The reading from Saint Paul will focus on this urgency, and the Gospel on the means. These means are the scriptural ones of fasting, almsgiving, and prayer. They are described in the Catechism as expressing conversion in relation to oneself, to others, and to God respectively. Prayer clearly nurtures our relationship with God. Almsgiving helps our neighbour and opens our eyes to others' needs. And fasting, the Catechism explains, leads to freedom of heart. We might perhaps call them ways of denying nature so as to be more receptive to grace. When we encounter them in the Gospel reading, we may at first assume that Jesus is simply enjoining us to practise them. But he takes it for granted that we are already doing so. And then, he shows us a deeper perspective, focussing on our dispositions when we are doing those things. Jesus makes it clear, throughout, that in our practises of piety we are not to do them in order to be seen by others. Key themes recur, and the first of these is that we are not to be like the hypocrites. If deliberately sombre looks are intended to show that we are fasting, this is a kind of theatrical performance, and the others watching us are an audience. Jesus wants us to leave unreality and live in the truth. He wants us to keep our eyes fixed on God who is looking at us. Like Elijah, father of Carmelites, who described himself as standing before the living God. And your father who sees in secret will reward you. Jesus tells us each time, and we can thrill to this secret, which is a privileged place of intimate communion with God. And as Paul says, for you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. Conversion, seen in this light, is about more than practises of penance, it is about purity of heart, living our lives in harmony with God's will, our heart set on God every day, every hour. St. Therese, in the wake of John of the cross, expands this into every aspect of daily life, so that every action becomes an act of love. Therese also quotes the words of Jesus that come after the gospel reading, where your treasure is, there is your heart also. And she comments quite simply, our treasure is Jesus. Yes, Jesus is the treasure the father gives us, the unmerited reward that is a pure gift. And now we have St. Paul showing us the urgency of conversion and the need to return to God. Behold, now is the favourable time, he tells us. Now is the day of salvation, and this day is a love story. It is about coming with our whole heart, contrite, humbly and lovingly, to the God who desires us so.