Ash Wednesday
Bishop of Lake Charles
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
February 13, 2013
Ash Wednesday
“Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning.” Joel 2:12
Lent is a penitential season. We begin our 40 days of Lent by receiving ashes, a reminder of our mortality and repentance. But why do we need penance? I would suggest a few reasons that might help us put this holy season in perspective.
First, Jesus teaches the need for penance. He specifically mentions fasting in today’s Gospel. He tells us that when we fast, we are not to “look gloomy like the hypocrites” (Matthew 6:16). Jesus just doesn’t ask us to fast. He asks us to fast in a spirit of genuine truth that comes from the heart. In this way, “… your Father who sees in hidden will repay you” (Matthew 6:18).
Second, penance helps us imitate Jesus. St. Paul tells us in our second reading that God made Jesus Christ “… to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him” (II Corinthians 5:21). Being a Christian is all about imitating Christ. When we imitate Christ, we identify with him. He goes into the desert for 40 days to fast and pray. So must we. He accepts His sufferings as part of the Father’s will. So must we. Then and only then do these sufferings become redemptive. If Jesus Christ, as the Son of God in all His perfection, can empty himself out taking on human imperfection, then we must empty ourselves out of that same human imperfection—namely sin—by self-denial.
Third, penance shows God that we love Him. There is not enough love for God in the world today. As a matter of fact, the world gives every indication of forgetting God. Penance returns us to God, as the prophet Joel in our first reading says. “Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God” (Joel 2:13). There is within each and every one of us as human beings a deep desire for God. Penance is one way of saying to God we belong to Him. He is our creator, and we want nothing else but to be one with Him. If Jesus Christ, who was Son of God, can suffer so much for us, even to the cross, then cannot we show Him through our penances that we share some of His sufferings out of love for Him?
Fourth, penance keeps us honest. I always feel a little uncomfortable around people who say they are without sin. It strikes me as being not a little bit presumptuous. I remember the encounter of Jesus with the woman caught in adultery recorded in the Gospel of St. John. There is no doubt about her guilt. The problem is not the truthfulness of the accusation. Yet, what does Jesus say to those who have accused her? “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7). With those words, the accusers walk away. We can only conclude that Jesus held a mirror up to their souls, challenging them to examine their consciences. Penance reminds us that we are not perfect. Penance opens up the recesses of our souls and reveals the residue of selfishness, hatred, jealousy, pride, and revenge that still infects us. We need reminders to pursue perfection, and penance is one of them.
Finally, penance shows God that we rely entirely upon Him, that we are not self-sufficient, and that we need Him. Penance calls to mind our mortality and that we will die one day. Death will not be the end of it all, as the materialists and secularists of the world today would have us believe. Instead, death for those who believe will be only the beginning. Penance in this life reminds us that we shall die one day and that we have reason for hope. This hope is rooted in our origin which is God. God has created us and He sustains us. In doing penance, we show ourselves that we can do without certain comforts and pleasures because God provides us with everything we need. Penance is very much a profession of faith in God’s provident care.
These are just a few, but important, reasons for penance. Let us beg the Lord for a holy Lent, a Lent like no other we have known before, a Lent that renews our faith and strengthens our love for God and neighbor.