17 February 2010: Ash Wednesday

On the requisite dispositions for Lent

First disposition: “Humility. Remember, you are dust and to dust you shall return.” (cf Gen 3:19) Who uttered these words? God himself, some seven-thousand years ago. To whom did he address them? To Adam, our first parent, as soon as the sentence of death had been pronounced on him and his posterity in punishment for his sin--

“Because you have eaten of the tree which I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the earth in your work,’ said the Lord. ‘In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread, till you return to the earth from which you were taken; for dust you are, and unto dust you shall return.” (Gen 3:19)

Why did God add these last words, which do not increase in any way the punishment already given? Doubtless, it was to subdue and annihilate the pride of Adam; and inspire him with such deep humility as would dispose his heart to admirable penance.

Thus we see that Adam, who had begun to excuse himself, remained silent, but accepted the penance imposed; and persevered in it, humble, penitent, and resigned for nine-hundred years. This penance pleased God, and our first parent was saved by it through the merits of the future Redeemer.

We have sinned in Adam, we have sinned also; we are very guilty. We have great need of doing penance, of imploring pardon. God is ready to pardon us; but humility is the first feeling God seeks in the heart of a sinner and a conviction of his own unworthiness.

The first disposition then which we ought to achieve and in which to persevere during Lent -- a time of universal penance -- is a profound humility, arising from the knowledge of our nothingness and our sins. This must be the principal merit of our works of penance.

Second disposition: ‘Compunction.’ Who repeats the same words God pronounced in the Garden of Eden? Our holy Mother Church through her ministers. And to whom does she address them? To each one of us, to all the faithful who assemble in the house of God.

When? At the moment our foreheads are marked with ashes, the emblem of death and penance: as if saying, “O man, whoever you may be, remember you must die and become like this dust, because of sin. ... if you do not do penance for your sins, you will only rise again from the dust of the tomb to pass, in body and soul, into a place of eternal torments.”

The Church obliges us to listen to those grave and terrific truths only to inspire us, from the first day of Lent, with holy and deep compunction of heart. If our works of mortification and penance are accompanied by sentiments of true contrition and humility, they will be pleasing before God, for “a contrite and humbled heart, O God, you will not despise” (Ps 51:17).

Lacking these attitudes, we ought to fear that all Lenten practices, even the most painful, will be useless.

Ref: cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp80-82

Lent, a time for coming closer to God

We are at the beginning of Lent, a time of penance and interior renewal to enable us to prepare for Easter. (cf Second Vatican Council, “Sacrosanctum Concilium”, 109) The Church’s liturgy unceasingly invites us to purify our souls and to begin again.

“Yet even now”, says the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments. Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.” (Joel 2:12-3)

As the priest places ashes on our forehead, he reminds us of the words, after original sin. ‘Memento homo, quia pulvis es’ “... remember man that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Gen 3:19)

Remember! Despite this reminder we sometimes forget that without God we are nothing. “... all that remains of man’s greatness is that little pile of dust, in a dish, at one side of the altar, on Ash Wednesday. It is what the Church marks us with ... as though with our own substance.” (J Leclerq, “A Year with the Liturgy”)

God wants us to be detached from things of the earth and return to him. He wants us to abandon sin, which makes us grow old and die, and return to the fount of life and joy. “Jesus Christ himself is the most sublime grace of the whole of Lent. It is he who presents himself to us in all the wonderful simplicity of the Gospel.” (John Paul II, “Ash Wednesday Homily”, 28 Feb 1979)

To turn our hearts to God (conversion) is to be prepared to use all the means to live as he expects us to live: absolutely sincere with ourselves and try not “to serve two masters” (cf Mt 6:24). We must love God with our whole heart and soul; flee from any deliberate sin.

Ref: cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:1-2

Praying for supernatural graces

Whatever and however serious our material limitations, we usually need greater spiritual benefits: the grace to serve God and fidelity, to grow in personal holiness, help in the fight against our defects, to make a good confession, to prepare for Holy Communion.

We ask for temporal goods provided they are useful for our salvation and are rightly considered secondary to the graces and gifts of the spirit that we need first and foremost. “... we should bear in mind the command of our Redeemer. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.” (St Gregory the Great, “Homilies on the Gospels”, 27)

God is pleased when we ask him for grace and help for others, and also when we ask others to pray for us and for our apostolate.

Our prayer should be filled with a spirit of abandonment in God and a deep supernatural sense, since it is a question of ‘doing the work of God’ and not our own. We have to respond to ‘his inspiration’ and not to our own feeelings. (cf John Paul II, “Address to the French Bishops during their ‘ad limina’ visit”)

Our Lady will rectify for us intentions which are not upright, so that we obtain what is best.

Ref: cf Francis Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 3:264-6

Mankind needs Mary!

In her we find, truly, access to the heart of her Son, the only place where our restlessness can find peace, where our sorrows find comfort, where our intentions to live a life consistent with the values of the Gospel find strength and constancy.

Pray fervently to Most Holy Mary! Be aware of her at your side and consecrate yourselves to her, renewing throughout the day your affection and your trust, so that she may accompany you in your daily affairs.

Her memory is alive in families, especially in the daily recitation of the Rosary. It’s a daily encounter that she and I never miss: if you wish to be close to the heart of the Pope for some moments, I suggest to you the Rosary hour, when I remember all of you to the Virgin Mary, and I would be pleased if you would remember me to her in the same way.

Ref: cf “The Private Prayers of Pope John Paul II”, 2002, p5

Prayer -- “For those who use their intelligence and their study as a weapon, the Rosary is most effective. Because that apparently monotonous way of beseeching Our Lady as children do their Mother, can destroy every seed of vainglory and pride.” (St Josemaria Escrivá, “Furrow”, 474)

Our Lady of Constantinople, Bari, Turkey (566) (http://www.divine will.org/feastofourlady.htm)

Our Lady of Constantinople, formerly a chapel, which was converted into a church of the Blessed Virgin by the Emperor Justin the Younger, in the year 506. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; http://www.bethlehemobserver.com)

Seven Founders of the Order of Servites: Members of this religious Order venerate the Blessed Virgin as ‘Our Lady of Sorrows’. (Fr James Socias, et al [Eds], “Daily Roman Missal”, 1989, p1483)