We kick off Lent marked by the ashes of past Palm Sunday palms. We receive ashes aware of our failings and regret for our sins. That is, what we did . . . for example gluttony, selfishness, bigotry; and what we didn’t do . . . like being more patient, more kind, and better listeners.
But this day calls us to more than just regret or guilt. Ash Wednesday calls us to repent. It’s not enough to just wear a smudge on your forehead. The challenge of the ashes on your forehead is:
So now what? How am I going to be different?
True repentance is not just about beating ourselves up for our failings. Repentance is the resolve to make things right.
Theologian and Pastor Richard Lischer writes, “The ultimate goal of Lent is not contrition or meditation or suffering . . . but reconciliation (to turn your heart toward God) then, it is possible to forgive another human being (someone who has failed you, hated you or betrayed you). It is possible, at least, to make something right with that person. You may not continue in close communion, but the sheer fact of what God has done (in the death and resurrection of his Son) means that any terrible breach can be repaired.”
Many of us like to “give up something” for Lent, which is not a bad idea, but the Gospel meaning of repentance calls us to “do something” for Lent. These 40-plus days are a time for giving, for repairing, for reconciling. Let your smudge of ashes awake you to the times when you get stuck in regret and don’t move into reconciliation, when you get bogged down with disappointment and forget to be grateful, when you want things to turn out “your way” and forget that God is in charge.
Perhaps for Lent you can make a commitment to DO one thing each day. That is, do a positive thing each day. Pay it forward. Or do an action of repairing, or apologizing, or seeking to make a relationship better. One thing, each day. I know of one person who focused on a different person each day of Lent to pray for. Another person, prayed for one person each week, then on Saturday wrote that person a letter. During my 30-day silent retreat when I attended daily Mass, I chose a letter from the alphabet. For example, “J” then during communion and after Mass, I prayed for everybody I knew (living or dead) whose initial started with that letter. For example: John, Jean, Josh, Jennifer. It was a great way to focus on praying for others.
Perhaps this is the year that you realize that God forgives you as you forgive others, that God offers you compassion especially as you are compassionate to that person who brings you down. It is in dyeing to whom you thought you were to be that we are offered life in whom God has created you to become.
So perhaps spend the day today meditating on what is broken or torn in your life right now. Then perhaps enter into these holy days not only emptying yourself of excess, but also determined to mend, heal, and become better. A better spouse, a better parent, a better friend. Awareness and regret are the start . . . but the destination of these 40 days is REPENTANCE.
As God through Hosea, the prophet, “Come back to me, with all your heart.”