Homily: Ash Wednesday 2016 - A sign of repentance

Today we begin penitential season in the life of the Church known as Lent.  We bless ashes, have them imposed on our foreheads, and hear the words “remember, you are dust, and unto dust you shall return.”

You may have noticed that Mass started a little differently today.  I know it’s early, but hopefully you noticed.  We skipped an entire part of the Mass.  The penitential rite, where every day we acknowledge our sins and ask God for mercy.  That act of repentance takes place as we come forward to receive ashes that have been blessed to be a sign of our repentance for our sins throughout our entire life. 

Putting ashes one oneself is a sign throughout all of Sacred Scripture as a sign of repentance: the prophet Jeremiah told sinful Israel to repent by wearing ashes; King David after his very serious sin, repented with ashes; the widow Judith put ashes on her head asking God to deliver her from her enemies; Job, believing that he had sinned before God, repented in “dust and ashes.” When Jonah preached repentance to the wicked nation of Nineveh, the entire people covered themselves in ashes as a sign of repentance.

This biblical practice was followed by the early Christians, who would mark themselves as public sinner by wearing ashes. For Christians, we begin the great season of Lent, marking ourselves as sinners in need of God’s mercy.

We also heard in the Gospel, Jesus condemnation of hypocrites.  A hypocrite is someone who wears a mask pretending to be someone they aren’t.  Jesus condemned the Pharisees for being hypocrites. The Pharisees were acting as religious leaders but they were failing to lead God’s people to the truth of Jesus Christ. Jesus instructs his disciples not to be hypocrites, not to be actors.  Don’t just act like a Christian when other people are looking—truly be a Christian.

Today’s ashes can be a powerful act of repentance. However, there is also a danger of hypocrisy.  Don’t wear them if you don’t want to change your life. If you intend to act no differently today as you did yesterday, don’t receive the ashes.  For as a mark of repentance they are meant to mark our intention to put sin to death by handing over our lives to Jesus Christ.

Ashes mark our intention to do battle against the spiritual evils in our life, to turn away from the pleasures which are harmful to our souls, and our need to hand our lives over ever more fully to Jesus Christ, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.