Homily: Ash Wednesday - Compunction

Over the past week, down in the day school we have been discussing the significance of Ash Wednesday.  What do ashes have to do with being followers of Jesus?  What do ashes have to do with Lent? 

One of the third graders so bluntly and so clearly said, they remind us that we are going to die.  “We will die, and be buried, and turn into dust”, the 10 year old said.  That really woke up a couple of his classmates.  “Why is that important for Lent,” I asked him?  He said, “we will die, and be judged by Jesus, so the ashes remind us to get ready.”  I could not have said it better.

After the distribution of Ashes and the reception of Holy Communion today, the final blessing will contain a word we do not hear too often, but which is essential to the season of Lent.  At the final blessing the priest will pray: “Pour out a spirit of compunction, O God, on those who bow before your majesty”.  Compunction. 

The faces of those third graders when his classmate said the ashes remind us that we are going to die, is a form of compunction.

Compunction comes from the word puncture.  It is something that pierces us.  It pierces through our illusions, it pierces through the haze. 

The ashes and the reminder that “you are dust, and to dust you shall return” is a prick of the conscience.  It’s that jarring reminder of our mortality and a reminder that we will be judged for our sins. 

Compunction is the profound realization that our sins have real consequences—that our sins offend God, that our self-indulgent behavior has real damaging effects on our relationships, that our sins are real missed opportunities to grow in holiness.  Compunction is a sorrow over time wasted by our laziness, selfishness toward our neighbor, and how often we have turned to worldly things to fill our hearts instead of turning to God in prayer.

Just like a pin stuck in a balloon causes the balloon to deflate, so to holy compunction deflates our inflated egos, it pierces through our self-deceptions and brings us to sorrow for our failures to live faithfully as disciples of Jesus. 

Ashes on ash Wednesday are just a bunch of dirt on our faces unless it brings us compunction—sorrow for our sins, the desire for mercy, and moves us to prove our repentance through Lenten prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.  “Return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.”  The Lord blesses us now—saying to us it is good to be sorrowful for our sins, to come to him with pierced and rent hearts.

Many mystics through the ages have described the experience of compunction as the first step into the genuine spiritual life. Thomas Merton said: "Compunction is a sorrow which pierces, which liberates, which gives hope, and therefore Joy.” 

Lent begins with compunction that it may give way to the joy of freedom from sin and the heights of sanctity God desires for us.  Ashes remind us of our mortality, yes, but also the hope of abundant and eternal life available through God’s love mercy for the glory of God and salvation of souls.