Lent and personal redemption
The holy season of Lent is here again. Lent is the annual period in the Christian calendar, which commemorates Jesus’ fasting and prayer for forty days and forty nights in preparation for his public ministry (Matthew 4:1-2). In the season of Lent, Christians emulate the example of Jesus through forty days of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, which culminates in the celebration of Easter, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The entire period of Lent leading to Easter is the most important moment in the Christian calendar and the event that it commemorates is the fundamental hinge of the Christian faith upon which everything else revolves.
On the first day of Lent, which is Ash Wednesday, Christians are reminded of their mortality with the imposition of ashes on their foreheads, with this formula: “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.” These words of admonition occur and are alluded to several times in the Scriptures, especially in Genesis 3:19; Ecclesiastes 3:20; Job 1:21; 34:15; Psalm 90:3; Ecclesiastes 1:3; 5:15. Moreover, the religious ritual with ashes also has symbolic significance in the Scriptures. Ashes were used in ancient times to express contrition and repentance. Dusting oneself with ashes was the penitent’s way of expressing sorrow for sins. In the Book of Numbers, the use of ashes was part of the legal prescription for purification. Thus Moses said: “A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They are to be kept by the Israelite community for use in the water of cleansing; it is for purification from sin” (Numbers 19:9). Shortly afterward, the text says: “For the unclean person, put some ashes from the burned purification offering into a jar and pour fresh water over them” (Number 19:17).
Another ancient example of someone expressing contrition with ashes is found in the Book of Job: “I spoke of things I did not understand… my ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore, I retract all I have said and in dust and ashes I repent” (Job 42:3-6). In the Book of Jonah, when Jonah preached to the people of Nineveh to repent or face God’s wrath on account of their sins, the people did penance in sackcloth and ashes and God had mercy on them (Jonah 3:16). In the Book of the Prophets, Jeremiah called for repentance in this way: “O daughter of my people, gird yourself in sackcloth and roll in ashes” (Jeremiah 6:26). The Prophet Daniel recounted his pleading to God in this way: “I turned to the Lord God, pleading in earnest prayer, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes” (Daniel 9:3). Just before the New Testament period, the Maccabees fighting for Jewish independence prepared for battle using ashes: “That day, they fasted and wore sackcloth; they sprinkled ashes on their heads and tore their clothes” (1 Maccabees 3:47).
In the Gospels, Jesus denounced the cities in which most of his miracles were performed because the people had failed to repent: “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes” (Matthew 11:21; Luke 10:13). These are some of the instances in the Bible where ash is mentioned as a sign of repentance. The act of putting on ashes symbolizes fragility and mortality, and the need to be redeemed by the mercy of God. Far from being a merely external act, the church has retained the use of ashes to symbolize the attitude of inner penance to which all the baptized Christians are called during Lent: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, naked I shall return” (Job 1:21).
In making sense of this holy season of grace, Christians are invited to undertake a major examination of conscience. As the Greek philosopher Socrates says: “an unexamined life is not worth living.” Lent therefore calls all Christians to sober reflection. The naked truth of our human condition is that each one of us will die one day, a day we do not know. This realization of our mortality should motivate us to reflect on our lives. The American cultural anthropologist Ernest Becker in his 1973 book, The Denial of Death states that the fear of death haunts the human being like nothing else and that it is the mainspring of human activity. Thus, everything we do springs from our realization that we will not live on earth forever. For this reason, Lent is a period of giving up sin and a time to make reparation for all the evils we have done. In our moments of quietude and contemplation, we should reflect on ways to change for the better and to begin living new lives.
Lent is also a time to think about others, especially the poor, the hungry, the sick, the naked, the homeless, the marginalized, the suffering and the unjustly treated. These are some of the ways by which we identify with Jesus Christ in his passion. In the story of the Last Judgment, Jesus says that we will be judged on the basis of our attitude towards these people: “Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers and sisters, you do unto me” (Mt 25:40). This calls us each to do our part in building a society marked by equity and justice, where the needs of the poor and suffering are attended. Reflecting on this statement of Jesus in his 2016 Message for the World Day of Peace, Pope Francis says that the reason our world is suffering from lack of love and compassion is because the cobweb of indifference is growing in our hearts. Many Christians are just insensitive to what is happening around them. We close our hearts to the needs of others and close our eyes to what is happening around us. We have no sense of involvement in what is happening to others. We don’t feel bothered. The sight of suffering never moves our hearts. If it does not touch us directly, it doesn’t concern us. Almost without perceiving it, we grow incapable of feeling compassion for others and for their problems. We have no interest in caring for them. We feel that their troubles and sufferings are their own responsibility and none of our business. When we are healthy and comfortable, we forget about others. Our hearts grow cold and hard. Even the most touching sight of human suffering is unable to melt our frozen hearts.
Lent is therefore a time to make a U-turn. Jesus sends a strong message to us about this culture of indifference. Being a Christian in this season of Lent demands that we each become the compassionate hands and feet of Jesus to people around us who are in dire need of love and mercy. We touch the flesh of the living Christ by serving the poor, the marginalised and the destitute in our society. Human history has shown that God does not appear in the palaces of the Herods and the Pilates, but is found in places where he is least expected: in the mangers of the Bethlehems of stench and misery, in the many Gethsemanes of tears, anguish, and hopelessness, in the many Golgothas of suffering and despair, and in the many Bethanys where tears fills the eyes of the fainthearted. God shows up there in the poor and suffering. He is waiting for you and for me. Let us therefore make this season of grace and mercy to truly count. In doing this, let us put the admonition of the Book of Sirach before our eyes: “In whatever you do, remember your last days and you will never sin” (Sirach 7:36).