Reflection for Ash Wednesday and Lent

Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent. Lent comes from an old English word for spring, which corresponds with the season of Lent. In the Christian calendar Lent means the 40-day period of preparation leading to Easter (the day of Christ's resurrection). These 40 days do not include Sundays, which are regarded as little Easter days. These 40 days also bring to mind the 40 days that Jesus had spent in the wilderness, being tempted but not yielding to temptations.

Some churches observe Ash Wednesday by holding a special service during which they put ashes in the sign of the cross on the foreheads of believers and give a biblical reminder: "You are dust and to dust you shall return" (Gen. 3:19).

In the Bible, ashes symbolize mourning, mortality, and repentance. People mourn because of their sins. People also realize that they are finite human beings - that there comes a time when they die. When people mourn for their sins, they also long for forgiveness and a new life. Hence, they enter the process of repentance, self-examination, and making commitment for transformation.

There are many stories in the Bible of people who deeply mourned for their sins that they wore sackcloth (which is very rough), sat on dust and ashes (or have ashes poured on their heads), and did earnest prayer and fasting. However the prophet Isaiah strongly criticized those who did all these only to look good but were actually oppressive to other people (Isa. 58:1-12). Isaiah said that the kind of fasting God wants includes freeing oneself of hypocrisy; setting the oppressed and suffering people free; sharing food with the hungry; bringing the homeless poor into their houses; giving clothes to the naked. According to Isaiah, such is the kind of prayer that God would hear. He said:

"If you take away from the midst of you the yoke, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your desire with good things, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in."

Our Savior Jesus the Christ also made a strong warning about practicing one's piety in order to be seen and admired by people (Mat. 6:1-6, 16-21). He said that such a piety only pleases oneself but not God who will only find it hypocrisy. For Jesus, giving alms, praying and fasting should not be done proudly and publicly but humbly and secretly. He said:

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

What this means is that we should set our priorities right - about what are the most important things in life that we should really be concerned about. Is it money, physical looks or beauty, or power and prestige? These things will only make us crave for more. (I learned from Buddhist friends that they also have a teaching that desire or craving is the root of much evil, thus, it must be controlled before it controls us and brings us to ruin).

CCA believes that right and good priorities have to do with Jesus' own example of sharing God's will of fullness of life for all; of affirming that everyone is made in the image of God and is loved as child of God. This of course means protesting against forces that deny life and distort the image of God in people.

The use of ashes on Ash Wednesday continues the symbolism of mourning, mortality and penance from long ago. On this day and throughout the season of Lent, we are invited to mourn and repent for our sins of wrongdoings or of not doing the right and good things that we should have done. We are also to remember Christ Jesus who suffered and died and rose for our sake. As Christians we are also to renew the promises we made at our baptism - when we claimed dying to an old life and arising to a new life with Christ. Conscious that the ways of this world are simply passing, we are also to strive to live the values of God's reign right here and now.

I just learned from some colleagues here in Thailand that although not all the local congregations practice putting ashen crosses on their foreheads on Ash Wednesday, today is the day that they start filling in a "Lenten Saving Bag". The idea is that during this 40-day period, as they remember and reflect on the sacrifice of Christ for their sake, they will try to appropriate their participation in some sacrificial acts - e.g. by eating simply or less than usual, and by refraining from buying expensive things that they do not really need. The amount that would have been used for such things would instead be put into the sack cloth bag each day. By Easter, all the collections will be gathered together to help some people in need.

Today and throughout the Lenten period, I would also like to think of my compatriots who, like Christ Jesus, have sacrificed their lives for the sake of freedom and human dignity of my people and for a truly liberated Philippines. For such a Christ-like sacrifice, many of them have been harassed, tortured and killed by the powers that be - just like Jesus was scorned, tortured and killed by those who wanted the status quo to continue. Just like Jesus, I know that their sacrificial acts will always be remembered and will resurrect through the continuing struggle of those who follow them on the path to freedom and liberation. My prayer is that the powers that be in this predominantly Christian country will realize their need for mourning, their reality of mortality or finiteness, and their need for repentance as a return to God and the ways of Christ. I also join my people in mourning the sinfulness of our leaders who have allowed our country to become a tool of the Empire, which is behind these senseless killings of human rights and peace activists.