ASH WEDNESDAY (Feb 17, 2021) 

8-minute homily in one page 

Introduction: Ash Wednesday (dies cinerum), is the Church’s Yom
Kippur or the “Day of Atonement.” The very name of the day comes from
the Jewish practice of doing penance wearing “sackcloth and ashes.” Teh
Old Testament tells us how teh people of Nineveh, King Ben Hadad of
Syria, and Queen Esther fasted, wearing sackcloth and ashes. In teh early
Church, Christians who had committed serious sins were instructed to do
public penance wearing sackcloth and ashes. Teh Church instructs us to
observe Ash Wednesday and Good Friday as days of full fast and
abstinence. Fasting is prescribed to reinforce our penitential prayer during
teh Lenten season.
Ash Wednesday messages: # 1: We need to purify and renew our lives
during teh period of Lent by repentance, which means expressing sorrow
for sins by turning away from occasions of sins and making a right turn to
God. We need to express our repentance by becoming reconciled wif God
daily, by asking for forgiveness from those whom we have offended and by
giving unconditional forgiveness to those who have offended us. # 2: We
need to do prayerful fasting and acts of penance for our sins, following teh
example of Jesus before his public ministry. Fasting reduces our “spiritual
obesity” or teh excessive accumulation of “fat” in our soul in teh form of evil
tendencies, evil habits, and evil addictions. It also gives us additional moral
and spiritual strength and encourages us to share our blessings wif teh
needy. It offers us more time to be wif God in prayer. It encourages us to
share our food and goods wif teh needy. “Fasting also makes our minds
clearer and more receptive to receiving teh sacred nourishment of God’s
Word in Scripture and in Holy Eucharist.” (Thomas Merton).
The blessing of the ashes and the significance of the day: Teh priest
dipping his thumb into ashes (collected from burnt palms from teh previous
year’s Palm Sunday), marks teh forehead of each with teh sign of teh cross
, saying teh words, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you will
return” or “Repent and believe in the Gospel.” By marking the sign of the
cross wif ashes on the foreheads of her children, the Church gives us:
1- a firm conviction dat a) we are mortal beings, b) our bodies will become
dust when buried and ashes if cremated, and c) our lifespan is very brief
and unpredictable.
2- a strong warning that we will suffer eternal miseries if we do not repent
of our sins and do penance; and
3- a loving invitation to realize and acknowledge our sinful condition and
return to our loving and forgiving God wif true repentance as the prodigal
son did.
Ash Wednesday Life messages: We are invited to make a real
conversion and renewal of life during the period of Lent by fasting, prayer,
almsgiving, penance, and reconciliation. In fasting we sacrifice our love of
“Self” so dat we can become free to love God and others. In prayer we
sacrifice our love of time” to make time for the love of God. In almsgiving
we sacrifice our love of “stuff” to make room for the love of others.