Ash Wednesday. Lent 2019.

We begin again. The season of Lent begins with the imposition of ashes on our foreheads in the sign of the cross. The ashes are a “mark of our repentance,” the Liturgy tells us, a sign of blessing upon the “sinner who asks for God’s forgiveness.” We are surrounded by reminders of the journey that lies ahead of us in the next 40 days: vestments changed to purple, the color of penance; the Mass stripped of “alleluias;” readings focused on conversion; fasting and abstinence are required today and on the Fridays of the season. These are all signs that help us as we “begin again,” as we seek to “be reconciled to God.”  The Word of God addresses us today in both Old and New Testaments.  The Book of the Prophet Joel presents us with the invitation to “return to the Lord with fasting, weeping and mourning.” Why? Because we are sinners. Our psalm cried out “Be merciful, O Lord.” Why?  Because we are sinners. The season of Lent provides us with the opportunity to fine-tune our choices, to sharpen our vision, to intensify our willingness to heed God’s voice and to hold fast to him.  Why?  Because we are sinners. That is the path to life: from ashes to Easter! In Matthew’s Gospel, a similar challenge is put to us, patterned on the Lord Jesus’ own experience: what is needed is not simply an outward show but most importantly, an inner conversion. There is no better time than the season of Lent to reflect deeply upon the state of our souls and to willingly embrace the cross, not simply on our foreheads but in our lives. Lent is Jesus’ invitation to us to penance and conversion, in the words of the Church’s Catechism (no. 1430), that “does not aim first at outward works, sackcloth and ashes, fasting and mortification, but at the conversion of heart, interior conversion.”  The “outward works” help; they are a dramatic reminder but they are only the means and not the end. I read somewhere that “Lent is not a quick sprint but rather a marathon” a journey that symbolizes the whole of one’s life.  Conversion is the same way … not simply one moment or event -- although it can begin that way -- but a continuous series of conversions. Today as we hear about carrying the cross in the Gospel, let us invite that cross, the very symbol of our Christianity, to burn deep into our souls a mark of renewed effort to be reconciled to God. The words we hear as ashes are imposed upon our foreheads -- “turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel” -- should ring in our ears over and over again throughout the season in every situation that confronts us. We should give something up to create an emptiness for God to fill.  We should also do something positive that shows we belong to Christ. But in both sacrifice and service, make it your aim, as St. Paul urges us today, to be “reconciled to God.”• AE