Ash wednesday 2014

Ash Wednesday Year A

LENTEN SEASON

Ash Wednesday [Mt 6:1-6.16-18]

05 March 2014

Almsgiving, Prayer and Fasting with a Difference

Readings: (1) Joel 2:12-18 (2) 2 Cor 5:20-6:2

&   Theme in brief
       Right motive and attitudes for Lenten observances

&   Focus Statement

Our Lenten observances should be done for right motives that give glory to God, and not for self-glory or for attracting people’s attention and getting a merit certificate from God.

&   Explanation of the text

In today’s gospel Jesus speaks about three religious practices found in all religions namely,almsgiving, prayer and fasting.  He approves these practices, but with a difference. He criticizes the manner in which they are practiced by pious Jews (mainly the Pharisees) of his time and points out their wrong motives. He attaches three prescriptions to be followed by his disciples while practicing these deeds of piety: (1) the type of behaviour they should avoid; (2) the proper motive or attitude they should observe; and (3) the type of rewardthey should look for.

He emphasizes three times the need to avoid hypocrisy and showiness while practicing each of these pious deeds (6:2,5,16). [A hypocrite is an actor in life’s drama, who pretendsto be what he/she is not in real life.] These deeds should be done to give glory to God and not to be seen and praised by others (6:1-2); that is, not for self-glory or to earn publicreputation. They are only means to achieve an end – an expression of our inner attitudesand motives. They are not to be practiced to attract people’s attention (6:1,3,6,17) or to get a merit certificate from God. Jesus’ instruction to shut the door of one’s room and pray privately or secretly (6:6) does not mean we should not pray in common or publicly. What it means is that prayer should not be done with other ulterior motives than for glorifying God and entering into a deeper communion with him. Here Jesus points out how self-centeredness can be the motive for even the best of religious practices. If they are done forpersonal glory rather than for God’s, they lose their real meaning or purpose.

While speaking about the reward for such practices, Jesus contrasts between the shortsighted earthly reward and the everlasting heavenly reward. The former is earned through recognition, admiration and reputation among the public and the latter is an eternal reward of heavenly bliss given by the Father. In human society, the one who gives alms earns the reputation of being generous, the one who prays regularly in public places of being a devout person and the one who fasts rigorously of being an ascetic. In contrast, the Father who sees everything in secret, looks into people’s hearts, and rewards them by judging the inner motives behind these deeds (6:4,618). Since those who make a public display of these deeds already receive their reward here on earth, there is no further scope for any other reward in the age to come.

&   Application to life 

Today we enter into a 40-day period of inner purification called the holy Season of Lent. For many Catholics, Lent means just giving up meat on Fridays and attending the Way of the Cross on that day. They also understand it as a period of penance for their sins and for meditating on Christ’s suffering. Though true, the primary purposes of Lent are less emphasized and less understood: (1) It is a time of preparation for Easter or the Lord’s Passover. Just as the Lord Jesus passed (crossed) over from death to eternal life at his resurrection, this is a period set apart for us to pass over from all sinful, selfish, ungodly and worldly ways to new (holy) life on Easter day by following the path of charity, ardent prayer and penance. (2) It is a time for renewal of our baptismal grace and commitment. At baptism (which was our first Easter) we crossed over from sin to a new or holy life, or in St. Paul’s metaphor ‘died’ with Christ and ‘rose’ with him. But we have soiled our baptismal purity by our sins and not “believing in the gospel” (Mk 1:15 = not living the gospel’s way of life). So this a period set apart for us to turn away from sins and come back to the Lord and to his gospel.

How? In today’s gospel text Jesus lays down three Lenten observances as aids to renew our baptismal commitment, namely, almsgiving, prayer and fasting. He gives a new meaning to these traditional practices, which is different from what many pious people of his time as well as in our own times understand. These practices are to be external expressions of genuine repentance and conversion. They are means to reach the goal of renewing our baptismal call. This renewal needs to be done by coming close to God and a determination to give up evil practices and sins. We have to examine our inner motives and dispositions and ask ourselves if these observances will lead us to a renewal of our baptismal call – the aim of Lent - and make us committed disciples.

The first Lenten observance of almsgiving must be broadly understood to include allcharitable deeds and sharing of our goods with the needy as well as solidarity with those whom we have excluded from our schemes. It is an expression of our gratitude to what God has given us out of his bounty and our responsibility to share something of that with the have-nots. The second one, namely prayer should proceed from our genuine love of God, and lead to a deeper communion with him flowing into more committed service to ourneighbours. The third one, namely fasting includes all acts of penance and abstinence. Lenten abstinence from meat, alcohol, smoking, etc., is to be practiced for spiritual benefits and not purely for health reasons like lowering one’s cholesterol or preventing cancer. Nor penance should be done for its own sake, or just for experiencing a good deal of pain by giving up something dear to us. Fasting and acts of penance need to be signs of our genuine repentance - a turning away from evil and turning back to God. When done with pure motive, they can lead us to an inner disposition for repentance and sorrows for our sins.

Let us enumerate some of the spiritual motives for fasting and abstinence:

(1) It is a means to humble ourselves before God and is an expression of mourning for our sins and wrongdoing. It is meant to make us realize the harm inflicted on ourselves and others by our own sins and to seek the path of conversion. (2) It is an aid to prayer. It is up to us to use it for reflecting on our hunger for God as we feel physical hunger. (3) It reminds us to feel the pain and agony of so many people in the world who go hungry due to theirpoverty, and the suffering of those who are seriously ill or are victims of natural calamities, or experience injustice, etc. (4) It reminds us of the need to do our bit for the alleviation of suffering and misery in the world, by spending a bit of our money/ time/ energy/ expertise for this cause. (5) It is a form of self-discipline and self-control we want to practice by giving up a pleasurable thing. When we freely choose to impose discipline on ourselves for a greater cause or a higher good without any external force, we shall look as if we are going for a feast when we actually are fasting. This could be one of the applications of Jesus’ saying: “When you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face” (6:17). (6) It teaches us to manage without things we are so used to, such as food, drink and modern comforts. Before motor vehicles, electricity and mobile phones came into existence people knew how to manage their affairs. Now, can we manage without electricity or mobile phone for an hour without making a fuss or becoming restless?

I came across a PowerPoint Programme prepared by Dorry advocating the following creative ways of fasting with a difference: (1) Fast from anger and hatred. Give your family an extra dose of love each day. (2) Fast from judging others. (3) Fast from discouragement and trust in God’s promises. (4) Fast from complaining. Instead close your eyes and think of the good things you are enjoying. (5) Fast from resentment or bitterness. Work on forgiving those who may have hurt you. (6) Fast from spending too much money on comforts and enjoyments. Try to reduce your spending by ten percent and give those savings to the poor.

Let me add a few more fasts to this list: (1) Fast from the desire to get glued to the mobile phone all the time and from using it for fun-calls and needless talk like, “What was the curry for dinner?” (2) Give some money for charity or a noble cause secretly and fast from your desire to get your name displayed publicly on a marble stone or mentioned in church announcements. Reflect and see whether you would have donated any money for that cause if your name were not mentioned or displayed anywhere.

For the noble cause of protecting our environment from further degradation we can do the following penance during this Lent: (1) Walking to the railway station or bus stand if it is within a km instead of going by your vehicle. (2) Saving energy and water by limiting their use. (3) Avoiding forest fires by not burning leaves around the forest area (as done by some people in my region to clear the area for collecting the forest produce). (4) …………………………………….

&   Response to God's Word

Do we do Lenten observances with above-mentioned motives? Or do we do them only to follow a custom or gain merit here and hereafter? Do we use them as means to improve our Christian commitment? Are we self-centred even in our religious practices? Are we going to follow the path of giving and sharing, praying more, sacrificing and renouncing with the motive of self-renewal and better Christian commitment throughout this Lenten Season? Which of the above-mentioned creative ways of fasting we would like to observe?

&   A prayer

A pure heart create in me O God, and put a new and steadfast spirit within me. Do not despise my broken and contrite heart. Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Amen.