1st Reading from the Book of the Prophet Joel 2:12-18: In this reading from the Prophet Joel, God is revealing to the people the way back to him. The people must do so by offering their whole heart in their repentance. God reveals that the way back to him is through their own broken or torn heart. Real individual conversion comes through being humble, acknowledging the power of “rending” their hearts not their garments. “Rending” means to tear something in two or tear something up. The rending of the heart is to cause intense and honest inner sadness. In days of the Old Testament the people were encouraged to “rend” their garments to show a public display of sadness or disapproval. The person wearing the torn garment would go out in public and everyone would know that they were grieving a sinful act, repenting, or generally mourning. God wants his people to be honest and humble by rending their own heart. God wants us to feel on the inside rather than show on the outside. Looking deep inside ourselves is a more concrete, contemplative, quiet, and real transformative way of reconciling us back to God. The people are familiar with punishment and judgement, but God is offering his true nature. God’s nature is being merciful, slow to anger, and rich in kindness. Simply ripping your clothes does not reach deep into your soul and heart. Rending your heart not your garment is to be honest, true, and open to God’s desire of a relationship with him.
2nd Reading from 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2 In this reading St. Paul is reminding the people to be reconciled with God. As in the first reading it is a call to conversion and to repent of their sins. More importantly Paul is reminding of the importance of Jesus sacrifice on the cross. He also says, “working together, then, not to receive the grace of God in vain”. Blending the individual with the community of believers is critical to helping each other and lifting each other up. He finishes with, “Behold, now is a very acceptable time, behold, now is the day of salvation.” They are told to quickly accept the Gospel message as it will lead to greater faith. The result will be growing within a faith community. Together with other believers we receive the salvation won for us by Jesus sacrifice on the cross.
The Gospel Matthew 6:1-6,16-18: The Gospel reading re-enforces the first two readings. It continues with the story of conversion, repentance, and accepting a relationship with God. Jesus teaches the disciples about public displays and what pleases God. Jesus teaches that God wants a real relationship with us. Our response is to respond back to God in our brokenness and honesty. Jesus instructs how we are to act in giving of ourselves, not by seeking recognition, approval, or accolades. Jesus instructs how to perform acts of charity and righteousness, how we are to pray, and how we conduct ourselves in the sacrifices we make.
Reflection: So here we are in the modern world beginning the season of lent. All forms of entertainment, information sharing, and marketing activity attempt to garner attention day and night. We are bombarded by who is popular, who is famous, and who’s not.
If we choose to dig deeper and analyze societal behavior, we may find we are not much different than the people of the Old Testament. It was important for Jesus to teach the disciples about what is pleasing to God in performing righteous acts. Jesus is lifting the veil on some very real human emotion and traits, regardless of the year we live in. He knew that the disciples (and all of us many years later) would be in danger of falling into the same trap of seeking recognition. Jesus knows we are tempted to be vain.
He knows what tempts us. He is pointing the way to his Father. What does God love? What pleases God? Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew, is being very direct in pointing out what notto do. Jesus says firmly, not to “blow the trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets trying to win the praise of others”. Jesus provides the guide to a more centered, loving, peaceful, spiritually mature, and fulfilled life where we don’t have to be worried about how we are being perceived. Jesus cautions us how not to act when doing righteous acts.
Specifically, the first is when we give of ourselves to others in charity of our time, self, and/or resources of all types. Jesus speaks of the danger of becoming hypocritical. We can be tempted to show the outside world something different than who we really are in our heart. Our outward behavior can be manipulated into making a spectacle of things to give us a boost. Even good intentions and a real sense of love may tempt us into being recognized more or expecting something in return for our trouble. Jesus wants us to remain humble and be natural givers. We just have to understand that it can be dangerous to only think about ourselves while giving. Give for the righteousness of giving, because the act of giving is enough. God knows, God blesses us, we don’t need a parade in our honor.
The second is in our prayer life. We don’t need to be seen or heard. We don’t have to announce it. Jesus knows even our prayer life can become corrupted. Jesus wants our prayers to be free from self-importance and selfish thoughts. Jesus assures us that God hears us and wants to richly bless us.
The third is in sacrificing of ourselves for others. The reading touches on fasting which is an act of self –sacrifice and self-discipline. As a believer in Christ the act of self-sacrifice will flow from us like a river. We have to guard against polluting that river with thoughts of only self. How are we affected? What’s in it for me? What do I get out of this or that? It’s interesting that just when I sacrifice myself for someone else it usually occurs when its inconvenient. When I’m pressed for time, have a million things to do, think that I have been down this road before, why don’t they listen? why don’t they believe? Why me? Why? Which if we are honest brings us right back to ourselves and how we are affected. In the process are we building the habit of a religious prideful nature? Do we think we are more holy than the rest? Am I becoming like a Pharisee without being conscious of it? Am I feeling entitled in getting something in return?
Going Forward: The miracle is Jesus knows our weakness. The truth is we may often come to Jesus with a lot of selfish, bitter, unmerciful, and judgmental attitudes. Are we “performing” in our religious life? In our church? In our relationships? At home? At work? In public and private places? Are we performing in our spiritual, prayer, and charitable life?
This Ash Wednesday we can press the pause button. We can truly embrace what the ashes represent and be taken to a higher level. Jesus assures us that God truly loves us and wants a close relationship with us. Jesus knows how we are tempted. If we are playing to the crowd, then we are also tempted to only consider self. The trap is set making everything about self. We have just hijacked our good intent, our good prayer, our good sacrifice into believing that self is the focus. What’s my benefit? What do I think? As in any bad habit, it sneaks up quickly and before you know it, permeates everything, including our spiritual life. We begin to carry it around with us as thoughts about why things aren’t fair. This is why God wants us to “rend” our own heart and Jesus teaches not to worry about what others think in doing good works.
So if we focus on praying, giving, and sacrificing without acclaim, we will be building our “thirst for righteousness” muscles. If we thirst for righteousness in a need we see before us, God gives us the strength to tackle it. We can take action, we can give more, we can pray more, we can sacrifice more, we can love more and God’s promise is that God’s blessing will flow. Our hope can be to forget about ourselves as we work hard at serving others. We can do so with a pure heart. Doing our work, being there for others, practicing our faith, and hopefully, not worrying if anyone is hitting a “like” button.
So this Ash Wednesday let’s wear our ashes with a heart of true inner repentance. Let’s approach Jesus with prayers of love and humility and be ever grateful for God’s eternal blessings.