(Ash Wednesday 2023: This homily was given on February 22, 2023 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I., by Fr. Raymond Suriani. Read Joel 2: 12-18; Psalm 51; 2 Corinthians 5: 20-6: 2; Matthew 6: 1-18.)
[For the audio version of this homily, click here: Ash Wednesday 2023]
Our bishop, Thomas Tobin, writes a column
each week in our diocesan newspaper, the Rhode Island Catholic. This past week he wrote on the subject of
what people wear, and how what we wear often reflects, as he put it, “our
belief or our loyalty”. What we wear, in
other words, is often a sign of something.
He begins by commending the Catholic school students who were kicked out
of the Smithsonian Museum recently for wearing hats that said, “Rosary
Pro-Life.” He commends them for having
worn something that was a sign of “their commitment to life.”
I’m sure some of you heard about that
incident. It happened right after the
annual March for Life.
So much for freedom of religion.
Bishop Tobin goes on to say, “How often
we proudly wear a t-shirt, a sweatshirt or a hat bearing the name and logo of
our favorite team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, for example. [Or, I would add, the Green Bay
Packers!] Sometimes we wear things that
have religious meaning. Christians wear a cross to identify themselves as
followers of Christ. Catholics wear medals or pins to share a favorite
devotion. When a priest wears a purple vestment for Mass rather than a white
vestment, it means something.”
Then he mentions the fact that on this
and every Ash Wednesday we will all leave church “wearing” something. We will
be wearing ashes!—we will be wearing ashes on our foreheads. At that
point he gets to what I would call the “crux” of the matter. He says that these ashes will be (and here I
quote) “a very visible sign. But a sign
of what?”
That’s the key issue for us to consider
this morning: What will the ashes I wear today be a sign of?
·
Will they be a sign
of the fact that I intend to make my spiritual life—my relationship with Jesus
Christ—my top priority during the next 40 days?
·
Will they be a sign
of the fact that I intend to pray more, and to read Scripture more often; that
I intend to come to Mass faithfully every Sunday—and maybe even during the
week?
·
Will they be a sign
of the fact that I’m going to take an honest look at my life during the next 40
days, so that I can identify those things I need to change? And will they be a sign of the fact that I
intend to bring those matters—those faults—those sins—to the sacrament of Reconciliation
at some point during the season of Lent, so that they can be forgiven?
·
Will they be a sign
of the fact that I intend to seek reconciliation with people I’ve offended in
my life, and that I will seek to grow in charity during this holy season?
·
Or will wearing
these ashes today simply be a sign of the fact that I somehow paid my
“spiritual dues” on February 22, 2023—that I went through the motions, and did
what many Catholics (probably most Catholics) think they’re supposed to do on
Ash Wednesday every year?
Those are crucial questions, my brothers
and sisters. They’re the questions that
need to be answered by us, and by everyone else who “wears” ashes on their
forehead today. But the thing is, we
can’t answer those questions right now! That’s
impossible! We can only answer them 40 days
from now when Lent is over, and when we reflect back on what we’ve done—and on
what we have not done—during this very important season of the year.
May that reflection back help us to see,
happily, that the ashes we wore this Ash Wednesday were a sign: a sign of the great
spiritual growth and personal improvement that we would experience—and which we
did experience—in our lives during the 40 days of Lent in 2023.
