Signed By Ashes

Today is the First Sunday of Lent. There is something about Lent that in the minds of some Catholics rings with a negative connotation. All that talk about sacrifice, penance, and conversion makes a person think, “Gosh, am I really that bad?” Yet in the previous translation of the Liturgy, the Preface of the Mass refers to Lent as a “joyful season”. What’s up with that?

Maybe Lent isn’t about how “bad” we are, but about how much better we can be! Lent starts with Ash Wednesday, and good and faithful Christians throughout the world went to Church and heard readings that spoke about how penance, sacrifice, and conversion is something that happens in the silence of our hearts and not on a street corner. Then they had a cross traced in ashes on their forehead, and went out into the world living their daily lives…seems a bit contradictory.

Think about where the ashes come from though. Ashes are a result of a something being burned. They are the product, or the remains of a fire. God is so often represented through fire. The Holy Spirit is always shown as a Dove dispersing tongues of fire. At our Baptism, our parents are handed a lit candle, as a symbol of the light of Christ. At Christmas we see candles as a symbol of Jesus as the Light of the World that comes into the world to scatter the darkness. When these 40 days of Lent are over, we will reach Easter, and at the great Easter Vigil, the Church blesses the new fire.

So we begin the journey with ashes, and we end with fire. Can’t it be said that the ashes are not a testimony to filth and dirt, but rather the fire which produced them: the fire that we hope to have burning at full force by Easter.

Maybe the fire within us is starting to take a beating from the winds of daily life. Maybe it’s down to a flickering flame. Maybe the fire needs some kindle to get it roaring again, something to feed its hunger. Maybe it needs some “fresh air” - as we know fire cannot burn without oxygen. Whatever the fire in your heart needs, use these 40 days of Lent to find it!

Consider for a moment the individual who is new to recovery from substance abuse/addiction. Those early days, in a particular way, are spent thinking a lot about the life that has been lived until then. After admitting that there is a problem, the journey and the work has only just begun. The 12 Steps spend a lot of time looking inward, examining the pain and anger that was taken out in so many different ways...fractured relationships of every kind, opportunities, and potential growth that was destroyed by holding on so tightly to addiction.

All however is not ashes. Just the opposite. The ashes that remain are a reminder of the fire that is being fed. It’s encouragement to continue to coax that flickering flame so that it will burn brighter and brighter, and larger and larger.

Lent is an exciting time of discovering how much better we can be. We can see how much more we want to grow, and the things we need to let go of. The even more exciting part – just like with recovery- is discovering all those things God has in store that we haven’t yet seen! A young man was talking to me about his recovery this week and he said, “I am just so happy to be getting myself together.” Lent proves that “getting one’s self together” is not a one-time event, it’s a process. In fact they have a word for that process: “life”. The Church is good enough to give us a 40 day season to remind us all to not get comfortable where we are, or too proud - because we could be even better.

The ashes we received on Ash Wednesday are a reminder to all of us, that the fire could burn a lot brighter inside of us. They are a reality check, that every one of us is on this journey called “life” and we are all in the work of “getting ourselves together”. In a way none of us are further along on the journey than anyone else, that’s why those ashes are such a powerful statement: from Pope to pauper, they are the same on everybody’s forehead.