Harriette Simmons
Ash Wednesday
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
February 6, 2008

"Remember, oh man, that thou art dust and to dust thou shalt return"

In a few minutes we will hear those ancient words of penance in a very personal way as a priest puts a smudge of dust made in the sign of a cross on each of our foreheads.

In medieval times the priest put the ashes on the people's tongues. The people were to "taste" their mortality and not just see it on each other's heads. The message was clear - all of them, all of us, rich or poor, young or old, male or female, Christian or pagan are headed for that final destination - death. In a culture which likes to dwell on the young and the vigorous, it is a sobering fact.

Lest we are tempted toward morbidity, let us move on to another meaning of Lent:

"Almighty God does not desire the death of sinners, but rather that they may turn from their wickedness and live..."

Life - new life in Christ - is the point, not dwelling on what happens to our earthly remains. What begins with ashes ends with Alleluias.

So how do we turn from death to life, from wickedness to righteousness? Not on our own, that's for sure. If the human will alone could make us like Christ, then grace would be neither amazing, nor saving. The forty days of Lent would be nothing but forty "self-help" days paying tribute to the human enterprise.

But the reality behind the ashes is that we are changed far more than we change ourselves. As St. Augustine said,

"I did not leave my sins, my sins left me."

And the agent of change is the Holy Spirit, with whom we are called into radical cooperation for the sake of the world.

We grow in grace as well as toward grace. The process of sanctification means that we can and do grow in holiness - often to the degree to which we are willing to cooperate with the Holy Spirit. We can and do have a part this Lent.

Noted psychologist Eric Fromm tells us of four conditions that generally occur in the process of human change. They are well worth pondering as we initiate this Lenten season, especially if we will combine the insights which we gain from the knowledge of these conditions with our own Lenten disciplines.

1. The first is that we are all suffering - some of us to a greater degree than others. Some of our suffering is physical, some emotional and some spiritual. To own the fact of our suffering rather than masking it produces the motivation to make changes in our lives. We have to face our denials. We might do this as we sit quietly in the presence of our God this Lent. Give up frantic activity for the next forty days. Make time for quiet this Lent.
   
2. Next, we must recognize the origin of our ill-being. The role of the therapist in psychology is to assist the suffering person to identify the sources of his or her ill-being. What are the causes, not merely the symptoms of your ill-being?
   
   One good way to get to the root of the causes is to give up something that is very important to you this Lent. It might be alcohol, it might be certain types or amounts of food, it might be television. If you do this, you will feel a void. Ask God to show you what that void is about. Why do you use certain substances to medicate your feelings? What are you covering up? You might be surprised at the answer.
   
3. Next, recognize that there is a way of overcoming your ill-being. This is the power of hope. An answer does exist. We do not have to be stuck. The causes of our ill-being can be confronted. There is a way out. Acknowledge that you can avail yourself of a power greater than your ill-being. This power is God, but God also uses other people, new insights or new behaviors to free us from our bondage. Unless this kind of hope exits, the energy required to stick with change is hard to come by.
   
   Practice humility this Lent. Get some help. Go to see a doctor about your aches and pains. Go to see your priest or counselor about the things in your spiritual or emotional life which cause you pain. Acknowledge the fact that you are part of a great human family. You cannot do it alone. Seeking help is not an admission of defeat. It is the beginning of wisdom.
   
4. Finally, accept the fact that in order to overcome your ill-being you must follow certain norms for living and change your present practice of life. The spiritual life is not a concept or a theory. It is very practical, and it has to be put into practice. No lasting change can occur in people suffering from ill-being unless they also change their practice of life. Insight alone, detached from practice of life, remains ineffective.

Pray fervently that God's Holy Spirit will empower you and give you the will and the grace to make changes in your life where they are needed.

The Lenten Season is a preparation for joy. It is a time to give up non- essentials so that we can see what is really essential. For the period of forty days we are encouraged to look inward so that we can go outward. Christianity is not a gloomy introspective religion. But it is a very practical one. And our Lord knows that we cannot go out into the world to do the work of the Kingdom when we are shackled by all kinds of inner demons and ill-being. It would be like trying to play the piano with your hands tied together.

Over and over again Jesus called people's disease or dis-ease by its rightful name and then cast it out.
    "Go and sin no more," he said to the woman caught in adultery.
    "Sell all you have and follow me," he said to the young man who loved riches.
    "Lazarus, come forth," he said to the dead man.

He always cut to the heart of the matter.

He did it through the power and insight of God.

That same power, that same insight that was available in the first century through the hands of our Savior is available to us today.

"We have not because we ask not," scripture tells us.

Ask this Lent. Ask and then be ready to receive - to implement God-given change. Amen.