St. Joseph of the Lakes

This is the first Lent in my life that has been affected by a seasonal disruption of winter weather. Who can guess what will happen with February weather? At the risk of not following the Church’s calendar it seemed to make more pastoral sense to move the distribution of ashes to today’s celebration. In my younger years I would have said that we should just tough it out and those who can get to church get the benefit of receiving ashes, too bad for the rest. Thank God for experience which informs wisdom, I have learned that more will suffer with the tough Minnesotan attitude than need to.  I am sure there will be a few bumps in trying to accommodate providing ashes for everyone today, but we will receive the mark of repentance as a community rather than just a few tough souls.

 These ashes are a sign of our willingness to “repent and believe in the Good News”.  A part of that repentance is the reminder that “we are dust and unto dust we shall return”. The Lenten season is not about us as individuals (for we are dust) but it is about turning our focus on the One who is our only salvation: Jesus Christ. He is the one who can face the lies of Satan and reject them showing us how it is possible to reject sin and embrace life. The entire season of Lent is meant to lead us away from our delusions that somehow we can win the fight against evil and prove to God that we are “worthy” to stand in His presence; and instead to find ourselves growing more reliant on Him who has defeated the grand liar: Satan. 

We begin the season with the mark of dirt which normally we would wash off as quickly as possible and instead we wear proudly throughout the day to show that we in fact are not much more than the ashes placed on our foreheads. Yes, the ashes are the sign of our need for Christ and His redemptive love.  We discover most deeply this need in our gathering as a community of saints and sinners. It is here, together, that we find God’s work at hand even as we struggle in the desert of our daily lives.  Today let the ashes you receive be your sign of anticipation for the coming victory of Easter.