A Cry for God’s Mercy, Forgiveness

Today, February 14, the Church observes Ash Wednesday. In the Roman Catholic Church, Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, the season of preparation for the resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday.

At the beginning of the sixth century, out of a desire to have forty days of actual fasting (Sundays being non-fast  days), the fast begun on the preceding Wednesday. Henceforth this Wednesday marked the start of Lent. It has been an early custom that special penance for those who are guilty of serious sin should start at the beginning of Lent. In the beginning it was on the Monday after the first Sunday of the Lent. Later on it was shifted to Ash Wednesday. 

The penitents in those days were given penitential garment and ashes were sprinkled on them followed by the rite of expulsion from the Church. These special garments and ashes receive inspiration from Old Testament and gospel (Mt.11: 21) Tertullian (founder of Western Theology) and Cyprian ( Theologian and Bishop)mention about this practice in  their writings.

 The rite of expulsion disappeared in the 10th century, but the rite of ashes remained. In 1901 Pope Urban II recommended this practice to all the churches. In the new missal this rite of ashes take place after gospel and homily. Today, the summons of Jesus in the Gospel according  to St.  Mark, “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel.” (Mk.1:15) and traditional formula; “Remember, man, you are dust and to dust you will return.” (Gen.3:19) is used while putting ashes on the forehead. The imposition of ashes is penitential practice symbolizing our dependence upon God's mercy and forgiveness.

As a Church, we ponder and pray over the call given by Jesus. Jesus, in Gospel according to St Matthew, calls us to pray, to fast, and to give alms: ‘When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites,’ ‘when  you fast, do not look gloomy,’ ‘when you give alms, do not let  your left hand know what your right is doing’  (Mt 6:5,16,3).

Prayer is that process of listening to and responding to God's daily call, sustains and nurtures our relationship with our  triune God. According to St Teresa of Avila, prayer is an intimate  sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us. Without prayer, personal and communal, this relationship is diminished,  sometimes to the point of complete silence on our part.  Pope Francis, in his Lenten message 2018 says, devoting more time to prayer, we enable our hearts to root out our secret lies and forms of self-deception, and then to find the consolation God offers.

Fasting, a very special form of penance, and Jesus' second call, has been a consistent part of our Catholic tradition. All of us  have to deal with areas of servitude, whether in regard to  smoking or alcohol consumption, misused sexuality,  uncontrolled gambling, psychological hang-ups, spiritual  obsessions, use of stimulants, immoderate use of the  internet, excessive amounts of television watching, or  preoccupations with other forms of entertainment like gossiping. By fasting and self-denial, by living lives of moderation, we have more energy to devote to God's purposes and a better self-esteem that helps us to be more concerned with the well-being of others.