Ash Wednesday, Year A February 26, 2020
Fr. Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette
A tattoo. A dramatic change in hair style or color. A wedding ring. These are just a few ways that we like to mark something: a change, an occasion, a memory. It’s in our nature as human beings to mark things. That includes our own bodies. Sometimes, that marking, that sign, does more than make a statement. A letter-man jacket or an emblazoned t-shirt. We dress ourselves with these things as a sign, a mark that we belong to something: a particular school or a fan-club.
Is that not part of the reason the Church is so full today? Ash Wednesday is the most well-attended Church day of the year, even though it’s not even a Holy Day of Obligation. Why is that? Because we like to be marked, we like to belong. Since there are human beings involved, of course there is some vanity and hypocrisy involved. But there is more to it, isn’t there? It’s not always a superficial concern – a desire for others to recognize that I am a Christian. There is something about the strangeness of it, the austerity and sobriety it calls for. Despite a century of the modern world trying to forget that there such a thing as sin, every year we boldly proclaim that there is… and that I am one of those people who commit them. I am a sinner. I want to do better.
Yes. The ashes remind us of death and sin. The Cross reminds us that Christ redeemed us. Letting other people see it, letting ourselves see it reminds us that we belong. We belong to the club of sinners in need of help. We belong to the Church. We are not alone. This not only includes the millions and millions of Christians who will be marked today, but all those who have gone before, those who have already become like the very dust we mark you with today. That is why we have a Church at all – so that you are not alone. You can belong to something bigger than you, to something bigger than your biggest faults. A field hospital tending to the spiritually wounded in the midst of a spiritual war – hopefully those ashes are a sign, a reminder of whose side you are on.
And like every club, every group, there are certain things that these wounded warriors, that broken Christians do. It’s a part of what makes us… us. And Jesus, our beloved God and founder names some of those things today. Almsgiving. Prayer. Fasting. So, make that sign complete. Don’t just give up chocolate or coffee. Give! Give time in silence to God. Give your attention to really participating in the sacraments. Give your money to something that doesn’t benefit you at all. Give yourself the experience of hunger so you remember that this world does not satisfy. Use your money, your time, your thoughts, and your very body to show that you belong to God. These practices are part of the medicine given to us by God and his hospital, apply them generously.
And the hospital that treats us with these things and more – it is not just another human institution, not just another club. With all her massive scandals, divided members, and sinful, hypocritical leaders, the Church is still the Church given to us by Christ. Still here after 2000 years of sinners and saints.
Yes, she, the Church is more than buildings and teachings, but her very buildings and teachings help us to know where we belong – to know where she is, and most importantly, where God himself is. These things, we ministers of the Church have this to say “We are ambassadors for Christ… we implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” You will wear the ashes today because you are a sinner, but also because you belong to those who hope to be saved. “Now is the day of salvation.” Salvation from sin, salvation in Christ, salvation with the Church. So, I implore you, “repent and believe in the Gospel.”