Ash Wednesday 2023
Even now, says the LORD,
return to me with your whole heart,
with fasting, and weeping, and mourning;
Rend your hearts, not your garments,
and return to the LORD, your God.
For gracious and merciful is he,
slow to anger, rich in kindness,
and relenting in punishment.
-Joel 2:12-13
As Ash Wednesday approaches each year, one of the first questions we Catholics will ask is “What should I give up for Lent?” And it’s a fair question because, as we know, penance is a traditional part of our Lenten observance. So, how do you or your family and friends answer this question? Do you give up the internet? Social media? Television? Chocolate or another favorite food? Soft drinks, coffee, or alcohol?
It’s true that taking a break from any of those can be good for us, helping us to be healthier or to possibly have more time for those whom we love. But, we also have to ask ourselves if these “sacrifices” are really helping us to grow in our lives as Christians.
Sadly, when it comes to the forty days of Lent, too many of us focus simply on what we “give up,” rather than fixing our attention on the rich opportunities of this season and the deeper meaning of fasting and abstinence. By doing this, we run the risk of turning Lent into a time of “spiritual gymnastics,” focusing on sacrifice rather than on growing in our faith and spiritual maturity.
“Lent leads to Easter: the “retreat” is not an end in itself, but a means of preparing us to experience the Lord’s passion and cross with faith, hope and love, and thus to arrive at the resurrection.”—Pope Francis, Message for Lent 2023
I think it is helpful to recall that the word “Lent” comes from the Old-English word for “springtime.” This gives us a wonderful insight into what the days between Ash Wednesday and Holy Thursday are all about: a season when faith and the virtues of the Christian life grow and flower within our hearts and souls. Preface I for the Season of Lent beautifully summarizes the vision and mystery of the Lenten season:
For by your gracious gift each year
your faithful await the sacred paschal feasts
with the joy of minds made pure,
so that, more eagerly intent on prayer
and on the works of charity,
and participating in the mysteries
by which they have been reborn,
they may be led to the fullness of grace
that you bestow on your sons and daughters.
Unfortunately, too many of us think of Lent as a unique journey with Ash Wednesday marking the starting point, discrete and separated from the rest of the liturgical year or the Christian life. Rather, it might be helpful to think of Ash Wednesday as an opportunity to pause and take a breath on what is really our life-long journey of faith. Reorient yourself. Reimagine. And, as it is needed, repent. Set aside what weighs you down so that you can set out again with greater freedom and determination. Allow the traditional bona opera (“good works”) of prayer, almsgiving, and fasting help you to focus on what is most important.
Finally, remember that Lent—as with every season and feast of the Church Year—is ultimately about our encounter with divine mystery and God’s loving mercy as it is revealed in Jesus the Savior. However much we might be tempted to turn inward and focus on Lenten resolutions or particular devotions or penances, don’t lose sight of the fact that these days are a gift and a privileged time for recollection and encounter.
“You are merciful to all, O Lord,
and despise nothing that you have made.
You overlook people's sins, to bring them to repentance,
and you spare them, for you are the Lord our God.”—Entrance antiphon for Ash Wednesday (based on Wisdom 11:24, 25 & 27)
