(The following homily was given by Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde during the Ash Wednesday Mass on Feb. 9 at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington.)
It is already Lent! Why, it seems that we just celebrated Christmas! Yes, Lent begins early this year. Whether the interval between Christmas and Lent is short or long, there is an intrinsic link between them.
Christmas is that time, early in the Liturgical Year, when we relive the coming of God's Only Son among us to be our Savior. In order to save us from our sins and eternal death, Jesus Christ had to suffer, die and rise again. Lent is that season, a little later in the Liturgical Year, when we focus more specifically on Christ's Death and Resurrection: what we call the Paschal Mystery, which we solemnly commemorate at the end of Lent, during Holy Week. Because the Paschal Mystery is so central to our Christian living, Lent is also the time when those of us already baptized recall our baptismal consecration, whereby we too died with Christ to sin and rose with him to new life. Those of us who are already baptized seek during Lent to be renewed in our baptismal commitment, so that our union with Christ deepens. For those seeking baptism or full entrance into the Catholic Church, Lent is the time for final preparation.
Today is the first day of Lent " Ash Wednesday. During this liturgy, we will come forward to receive ashes. Blessing and imposing ashes, observing today as a day of fast and abstinence from meat, and gathering for the prayer of the Mass: these help us to realize what Lent and the whole of the Christian life are all about " turning again and again to the Lord so that our identification with and participation in his Paschal Mystery might be ever deeper (cf. Kevin W. Irwin, Lent: A Guide to the Eucharist and Hours, p. 3).
Why do we receive ashes? Ashes are the outward sign of our inner resolution to keep Lent in union with Jesus, that is, to observe Lent the way Jesus observed his 40-day stay in the desert prior to beginning His Public Ministry. How did Jesus do that? By desiring to do His Father's Will in loving surrender.
So, let us keep our eyes on Jesus as we keep Lent. Prayer will open us to God, who calls us to come closer to Him, to become transformed more into the image of His Son, in Whom we were baptized. During this Year of the Eucharist, let our prayer be more focused on Jesus truly and really present in the Eucharist by our conscious, full and active participation in the Mass and by our regular, even daily, visits to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
Penance will express our determination to be self-disciplined and our sorrow and reparation for sin. Through various acts of penance, we will be freed from our enslavement to sin and freed for loving God and our neighbor more fully.
Almsgiving " deeds of mercy " will make tangible our resolve to reach out to the poor, the needy and the elderly, whom Our Holy Father asks us to assist in this year's Lenten Message.
Yes, Lent is our time to be renewed so that what Jesus began on Christmas will reach its intended goal within us. As Archbishop John F. Whealon once wrote: “But Bethlehem is only the beginning of the story of salvation in Christ. For many, regrettably, it is also the end. We must go beyond it, to the later, greater chapters. If we do not, the greatest story ever told becomes the shortest story ever told, and the saddest” (Christmas Card message).
You and I are here because we do want to be more closely united with Jesus in the greatest chapter of salvation history " in His Death and Resurrection. We are here because we want to be converted, changed and transformed into His Image.
The mandate is clear: “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.” How we obey this mandate will depend on how we keep Lent. And so, we pray. “Lord Jesus, you have called me into the desert [of Lent] to be with you. Help me to fix my eyes [on You and] on the Father. Purify me, Lord, and give me the strength to stay close to you for the next 40 days,” (cf. The Word Among Us, Vol. 24, No. 3, p. 20).
