Homily for Ash Wednesday, Year B

 

First Reading: Jl 2:12–18

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 51:3–4, 5–6ab, 12–13, 14, 17

Second Reading: 2 Cor 5:20–6:2

Gospel: Mt 6:1–6, 16–18

 

Assumption Seminary - San Antonio, TX

 

Good Morning, brethren. Welcome to Lent! As we all know, Lent is all about looking miserable to gain pity, resolving to show up to morning prayer a couple minutes early (but not actually doing so), and figuring out which fast food restaurant has the best fish sammich on Fridays, right? No? Of course there is much more to Lent than all that. Ash Wednesday begins a period of 40 days of “temporary inconvenience that leads us to permanent improvement.” Lent involves asking the hard questions we all need to hear and it is about the honest answers we all need to give.

St. Paul reminds the Corinthians in our reading today that “we are all ambassadors for Christ.” Is he speaking about himself? Yes, but he is also speaking about them – the people of Corinth. And he is also speaking about us, the baptized faithful. St. Paul is reminding us that by virtue of our baptism into Christ, we are all called to be his ambassadors in the world. Our first hard question: What does that mean – to be an ambassador of Christ? It means to speak in his name, much as ambassadors of nations speak in the name of their heads of state. But wait, there’s more! It also means to be like Christ, to live like him, and to conform ourselves to him. Being an ambassador is more than just a proclamation of words. Being an ambassador for Christ means to take on the entirety of Christian existence…both the joy of the Gospel and the trial of the cross. This is a hard answer to hear. Being a Christian is not easy…nor is it passive. We are called to do battle against spiritual evils.[1] St. Paul tells us that God is making an appeal to us through him and that appeal is for us to be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. God is calling us to himself! Therefore, we are to be ambassadors of reconciliation to God through our words and our actions. The Catechism teaches us indeed that “the whole Church should be the sign and instrument of the forgiveness and reconciliation he acquired for us at the price of his blood.” (CCC 1442)

What does it mean to be reconciled to God and why do we need it? That is another hard question because to ask it is to recognize and admit that it is not God who needs to be reconciled to human beings, but it is human beings who need to be reconciled to God.^[2] Reconciliation is the ending of conflict, discord, and hostility between two parties. Of course, we know God does not oppose us or turn his back on us. He longs for us to love him and be with him forever. It is we who are unfaithful. We turn his back on him when we choose to sin. We come into conflict with God when we refuse to assent to the teachings of his holy bride, the Church. It is indeed we who need reconciliation and the unearned gift of God’s mercy. When we repent and believe in the Gospel, when we accept God’s mercy and love in our own lives, only then can we become the ambassadors of that same grace and love to others. Like all of the gifts God bestows on us, his gift of reconciliation is a gift given to be shared. But the hard answer to the question of reconciliation is that we cannot give to others what we do not possess. To become the righteousness of God that St. Paul exhorts us to today, through Christ’s saving death on the cross; to be able to offer ourselves in self-giving love^[3] in the lives of our fellow men and women, we have to first be reconciled to God. And nowhere is that ministry of reconciliation enacted more perfectly and in a more privileged and unsurpassed manner than in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. My brethren, I exhort you – Go soon, Go often. Be reconciled to God through the blood of Christ and be washed clean of your sins.

St. Paul speaks to heart of the matter. He begs us not to receive the freely-given grace of God in vain. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent and it is the time for each of us to make a decision. And so more hard questions: Will we use this 40 days to deepen our relationship with Christ and be reconciled with him as his coworker in the Kingdom of God?[4] Will we use this time of Lent to purify our bodies and minds and reject partnering with evil? The hard answers: If we choose not to take advantage of this Holy Lent, this 40 days of prayer, fasting, and penance, then we risk receiving the grace of God in vain. We risk God’s grace being ineffective in us and not making a lasting change. God’s merciful love is always being showered down upon us, but we are not always open to it. It is as if we had an umbrella of sin and pride and worldly materialism over us, shielding us from that downpour of grace. We have to actively choose to cooperate with God. He waits for our decision. He already accomplished the real hard work through his suffering and death on the cross. Now it is our turn to act.

We people, being very human, like to put things off until tomorrow, especially if they are hard; especially if they require us to humble ourselves, like working to reconcile with God. Today is the day to ask the hard questions and start to give honest answers. Today begins our Lenten journey of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Let today begin a period of 40 days of “temporary inconvenience that leads us to permanent improvement.” As St. Paul wrote: “Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor 6:2).

St. Joseph, Protector of the Holy Church, Pray for Us!

 

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[1] From the Collect of Ash Wednesday

^[2] Daniel J. Harrington, “Editor’s Preface,” in Second Corinthians, ed. Daniel J. Harrington, vol. 8, Sacra Pagina Series (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1999), 104.

^[3] Thomas D. Stegman, Second Corinthians, Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2009), 145.

[4] Stegman, 148.