You may have noticed that Mass started a little differently today. After the sign of the cross and the greeting, typically, we have the penitential rite. We acknowledge our sins in order to prepare ourselves for the celebration of the Sacred Mysteries.
It is fitting that Mass begins with the call to repentance, for Jesus began his public ministry calling people to repentance. The very first words out of our Savior's mouth in Mark's Gospel are the words “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.” μετανοεῖτε καὶ πιστεύετε ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ, in St. Mark's Greek.
Tonight, instead of the penitential rite at the beginning of Mass, ashes will be placed on your foreheads as a sign of repentance, and those same words as Jesus spoke will be spoken to you: “μετανοεῖτε, Repent and Believe in the Gospel”
What does it mean to 'repent'? Yesterday, over in the day school, I asked the seventh and eighth graders, what does that word mean: repent? Sometimes we use words so often they lose their meaning. Well, they gave me a lot of really good answers: to repent means to be sorry for your sins, to turn away from your sins, to ask God forgiveness, to ask God for mercy, to change your sinful attitudes and behaviors, to work to repair the damage done through your sins.
Sometimes when young children break the rules, their parents ask them, are you sorry for what you did? To which they respond, I'm sorry I got caught. That's not repentance.
The greek word in St. Mark's Gospel for repent is the word, “metanoia”, which means change your heart, change your way of life, go beyond your old way of doing things. The prophet Joel gives a good definition of repentance in our first reading today. Urging those who had strayed from God's commandments he says: “return to me with all your heart.”
So, the repentance which begins this lenten season isn't just making ourselves feel sorry for your sins. It's meant to be the beginning of a change in us: in our attitudes, in our behaviors.
The ashes which you receive today are not just an outward sign for other people to see that you are a Christian. In the Gospel, Jesus condemns the hypocrites for their outward show. The word hypocrite comes from the greek word meaning mask wearer. A hypocrite was an actor.
Today's ashes are an outward visible, sign of our faith, but they also represent our inner desire to be changed by God.
Today's ashes are not about wearing a mask, but piercing through the illusions of our egotism, of asking God to free us from our sinful, selfish attitudes, behaviors and attachments. Today's ashes mark us as pilgrims on a 40 day-long journey of inner renewal. The dead palm branches remind us to die to the things that keep us from serving God with our whole hearts.
Similarly Lent is like going back to boot camp or basic training. People who enlist in military service know that those first few days of boot camp can be brutal. The officers push you to your limits in order to help you be faster, stronger, endure more, think faster, and be more obedient to orders.
The Lenten practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, mentioned by Our Lord in the Gospel today are meant to stretch us.
Starting today we will pray more, we will fast more, we will give of ourselves more. We go beyond our ordinary religious practice, we rigorously practice self-restraint, that we may experience the metanoia which Jesus preached. This can be a life changing lent for you if you want it to be. Allow God to stretch you this Lent, to lead you beyond old selfish ways of thinking and acting; let him transform you, that you may become an ever more effective witness and instrument of his grace in the world, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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