A priest at Queen of All Saints Basillica sprinkles ashes on the heads of parishioners in cars during a drive-thru Ash Wednesday distribution in this Feb. 17, 2021, file photo. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
One of the challenges we Catholics face is the way in which our liturgical calendar almost becomes like white noise. There is such consistency in our liturgical year that we often don’t give much thought to the changing of the seasons, the feasts, the memorials, the solemnities, as they pass by. But the seasons are there to help us consciously reflect on the mysteries in the life of Christ and in the life of the church. Ash Wednesday kicks off the season of Lent, during which we prepare for the paschal mystery, the salvific suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus. The 40-day period of prayer, fasting and almsgiving brings to mind and unites us with the Israelites’ 40 years in the desert, Noah’s 40 days in the ark and Christ’s 40 days in the desert before commencing his public ministry. We are fallen and we all stray from the path to God. But we know God is forgiving, his mercy endures forever. During this holy and penitential season we are called in a special way to face our sins, to get back on the right path and return to God. As Pope Francis pointed out in his homily for Ash Wednesday in 2021, “Lent is a journey of return to God.” In this light, the readings for Ash Wednesday are fitting, as they orient our minds to return to God. In our first reading, from the prophet Joel, the Lord through his prophet exhorts us to return to him with our whole heart, with fasting, weeping and mourning. We are told that the Lord is gracious and merciful, a refrain we hear again in the responsorial psalm: “Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.” God’s mercy is everlasting and perfect: All we need to do is accept the forgiveness he offers. God wants nothing more than to lovingly welcome us back into his embrace. In the life of the church, and the life of every Catholic, one of the most profound expressions of our journey of return to God is the sacrament of reconciliation. During Lent, this sacrament receives special attention, as Catholics seek the Lord’s forgiveness in the lead-up to Easter. Throughout salvation history, we hear again and again about humanity’s failings, God’s mercy and our return to him. The story is the same every time: God makes a covenant with his people, the people break it and God forges a new covenant with them. The story changes at the coming of Christ and his death and resurrection: We are now united to God in a “new and eternal covenant” in the blood of Jesus. We can still mess up our relationship with God, but the sacrament of reconciliation has been given to us to right those wrongs. It is never too early to seek and accept the forgiveness of God. The time is now. In his Ash Wednesday homily, Pope Francis emphasized the urgency of returning to God. “In this life, we will always have things to do and excuses to offer, but right now, brothers and sisters, right now is the time to return to God,” he said. We can see this in the second reading, as well, wherein St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” The only reason we can find to delay seeking God’s mercy is our selfishness, our own attachment to sin. The Israelites’ 40-year excursion in the desert was certainly no easy task, and at times they even yearned for the days of their enslavement in Egypt. During their journey, there was an ever-present temptation to yearn for leeks, to turn back, to cling to memories of the past or to this or that idol. “So it is with us: Our journey back to God is blocked by our unhealthy attachments, held back by the seductive snares of our sins, by the false security of money and appearances, by the paralysis of our discontents.” Ash Wednesday is our annual reminder that we are dust, and unto dust we shall return. So the time is now to return to God, to turn away from sin and accept his mercy. We look at the ashes and see the fleeting nature of physical things — “sic transit gloria mundi” (thus passes the glory of the world) — and remember the eternal, unchanging God who wants to welcome us home.
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Grad student creates Stations of the Cross with migration theme When Jacqueline Romo was considering what to do for her senior thesis project at Dominican University in 2019, she drew on her personal and faith journeys for inspiration and created “The Passion of the Monarca Migrante,” which uses the monarch butterfly and the plight of migrants to depict the Stations of the Cross.
Meditating on Jesus’ 40 days in the desert can enrich Lent Lent is a time of preparation for the commemoration of Jesus’ death and Resurrection and his ultimate second coming. To unpack this season, editor Joyce Duriga spoke with Kevin Pease, director of the Scripture School at the Institute for Pastoral Studies at Loyola University Chicago.