Father Tim Lemlin
We begin today the forty days of Lent. We begin it by making a fashion statement: ashes are placed on our foreheads for all to see. We do this a few moments after we hear Jesus tell his disciples not to "look gloomy like the hypocrites. They neglect their appearance, so that they may appear to others to be fasting." What was Pope Gregory I thinking in the seventh century when he introduced this rite? Was he setting us up to be hypocrites?
I suspect that Pope Gregory might have been drawing upon a rite that we in the Western Hemisphere have essentially forgotten. It is the rite of initiation that most cultures used when a young man was about twelve years old. A part of the rite was that those being initiated would be stripped naked and told to roll around in ashes.
We have the Sacraments of Initiation (Baptism, Communion and Confirmation), but our approach is much different. We dress those who are to be initiated in white and tell all that they are to remain unstained by sin until they meet Jesus in heaven.
Then why do we receive ashes today? If we are to remain unstained by sin (white is the symbol we use for purity), then why are our foreheads being marked with ashes? The fact is that we all know that we are sinners (impure). None of us will remain unstained by sin until we meet Jesus in heaven. The ashes, then, put us in touch with who we really are: sinners and impure people.
This taste of reality ironically gives us hope. It tells us that we are not reliable, that we can't make ourselves worthy, that we can't regain purity, and that's okay! The rite that we celebrate tonight, like the rite of initiation, helps make this fearful reality about our selves feel safe. We are not alone. All share this same reality. There are none who are pure. We are all impure, and God knows this and it's okay.
Once we know that this is okay, once we stop needing to be in competition or in comparison with others, once we stop needing to judge and condemn (something that we will never completely stop needing) we can look elsewhere for help, and find it in God.
Lent is a time of discovering the God who is secret by entering into the secrecy of God. We approach the threshold of the secrecy of God by living in the reality symbolized in the ashes that will soon be placed upon your forehead. Then, we are instructed to do three things: fast, give alms and pray in secret. "And [God] who sees in secret will repay you."
