Are you Ready for Ash Wednesday?

Ash Wednesday is a day on which we begin our Lenten journey. As such it is a day of conversion, as KELVIN BANDA OP explains.

One of the days that never ceases to surprise me is Ash Wednesday. This is because on that day the casual church-goer and even some non-believers come to church to receive their ashes.

Last year I asked one person who claims not to be a believer why he came to the Ash Wednesday service. His answer was very simple: “From dust I came, and to dust shall I return.” This is indeed the teaching of the Church.

Ash Wednesday marks the opening of the Christian penitential season of Lent. For many people that day is a reminder of death, of the sorrow they should feel for their sins, and of the necessity of changing their lives.

It is intended to be a solemn, soul-searching day when we face our personal and communal failure to live out Jesuss’ teachings, and humbly open our hearts to conversion, charity, penance and reconciliation.

Ash Wednesday is also supposed to be a holy day of fasting — fasting in solidarity with the poor, vulnerable, those suffering for the sake of the kingdom of God so that justice and equity  can be established, widows and orphans who have been denied rights to inheritance.

Ash Wednesday is again a day of unconditional love — agape. It is a love which invites all and calls us to repent for and disown selfishness, hatred and hate, fear and apathy.

It is a time that allows God to reign in our hearts and among us. Letting God be God of us all — total surrender to God so that we can be renewed and be charged with compassion and mercy for all humanity.

Ash Wednesday is a day of conversion, a day that challenges us to perfect our lives during the Lenten season. This can be done by stripping off our hot tempers, pride or self-hatred, and embracing the love of God given to us through Christ Jesus.

On Ash Wednesday we are called to fast not only from food, but also from our own misery — the misery that has accumulated in our hearts as a result of selfishness and failure to do God’s will.

We need to fast so that we can humble ourselves before God, turning away from evil and a return to God. This involves total metanonia — believing in the God of mercy, love and compassion.

Ash Wednesday calls us to internally look into ourselves and be aware of the presence of God in our lives, and in the world around us—and to build on that throughout Lent (and then throughout the year).

Ash Wednesday helps us realise the good within us which can make us prosper by being people of service to one another.

Ash Wednesday summons us to heed to the word of God’s healing when the priest or acolyte puts the ashes on our foreheads and says: “From dust you came and to dust you shall return.”

Healing comes into us when we pour out all our sins before God and ask for liberation from all the burdens of the world that put us down.

Ash Wednesday is a day to be real Christians and challenge the injustices around the world, a day for deciding that we are all equal before God, regardless of race or sex or equity.

It is a day and a season for forgiving those whom we have failed to forgive and also ask for their forgiveness, even if we were once bruised or rejected by them.

As we begion our Lenten journey, God asks us to lay down all of this at the Holy Cross of Christ Jesus our Saviour and Redeemer.

God only asks us to walk in mercy, justice, kindness and in love.

As my non-believer friend rightly noted, “From dust I came, and to dust shall I return.” What counts is what we do in between.