Homily
for March
1, 2006 Liturgical
Year
B-Cycle II
Ash Wednesday by Fr. John Carney Topic:
The
Symbol of
Ashes + + +
I'm sure that many people are going to work this morning,
and a lot of them will drive up Canyon Road
and see that our church parking lot is full. They are probably
saying,
"What are those Catholics doing at this time of the morning, on a
Wednesday, in the middle of the week."
It's interesting; Ash Wednesday is one of the most highly
attended days in the
church calendar. I think that just as many, if not more people
come to
church on Ash Wednesday than even on Christmas or Easter. It's
not a Holy
Day of Obligation; it's not even a Feast Day. It is the beginning
of the
Season of Lent. Although, we're here primarily to celebrate the
Eucharist, we're also here because it's Ash Wednesday.
This symbol of ashes has a powerful and
profound affect. All
of you in this church, right now, are Exhibit A. At noon,
the church will be standing room only. At 6:00
PM, it will be standing room
only--not
only here, but in White Rock as well. Why? Because of the
symbol of
ashes.
Of course, the ashes symbolize two things that
we all agree with
and that's why we're here. The first is that "We are dust, and
unto
dust you shall return." We know we are going to die. Let me
make that personal. You know that you are going to die. I
know I am
going to die. We don't know when, but we want to do that right,
don't
we? The most important day of your life, next to perhaps the day
you are
baptized, is the day that you die. I hope, on that day,
everything is
right between God and you. I hope that everything is right
between God
and me. Because that is the day that the Judgment will occur and
the
condition that you are in, on that day, or the condition that I am in,
determines where we will spend eternity. It's important that we
keep
death before us. Many of the Saints have said that if you keep
death
before you every day, you'll live a good life.
I like to read the obituaries every day, and I
commend them to
you. It is the Irish sports page, the obits. Not everyone
dies at
80. Yesterday, at Santa
FeNationalCemetery,
there were eight funerals. Last Friday at the Cemetery, there
were 14
funerals. Granted, most of those were elderly, but some were
not.
Do any of you know anyone who died this past year that was under
50?
Wow. Some of you know children who died last year, teenagers, and
people
in their 20's and 30's. We need to be ready. Today is the
day of
Salvation as the scriptures say. That's why we're here. We
admit we
are going to die. So, read the obits every day.
There is a story of Father Murphy who read the
obits every
day. Lo and behold, his name was in the obituaries. Some
terrible
mistake had occurred. He was very excited and concerned and he
called the
Archbishop and he said, "Archbishop, did you see my name in the
obituaries?"
The Archbishop said, "I did Murphy. Where are you calling
from?" The regulars here at mass have heard that about five times
already.
The second formula that is used when the ashes
are placed on the
foreheads today is "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the
Gospel."
I think the knowledge that we are going to die is a good thing, but it
should
lead to the next step and the next step is to be ready. We'll be
ready
for that next step if we turn away from sin and be faithful to the
Gospel of
Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior. How do we do that? Well,
we do
that with the three legs of Lent: fasting , almsgiving and prayer.
We fast. Actually, the
church only calls for us
to fast on two day during Lent, today and on Good Friday. A fast
means
that you may have one normal meal and you may have two other meals that
do not
add up to but one meal. You can actually gain weight today if you
work it
right. In addition, today is a day of abstinence. One is
not
permitted to eat meat or any meat products today and on all Fridays in
Lent. What the fasting rule is about is that it gives us
something to do
in common. We are Catholics. We are brothers and sisters,
and we,
together, will make this minimal fast. It doesn't keep us from
doing more
in the way of fasting. It is to let our bodies remind us of our
mortality
and of our weakness.
Almsgiving-- be generous.
Prayer— we pray daily. Pray especially
during this time of
repentance. I commend to you daily mass. It is the greatest
gift
God has given us this side of heaven. The chapel is available
24-7 for
your use. Pray the rosary. There will be a rosary after
mass this
morning if you wish to stay and pray the rosary as well.
We begin Lent as we have, for those of us with
gray hair, as we
have for many years. Sometimes, we start with resolutions, which
are a
good thing, but I would really pray that you do not get discouraged
this
way. Form a goal today for Easter Sunday. Actually, Lent
ends on
Holy Thursday and Sunday's are not included in Lenten
observation. Lent is
forty days, it doesn't count Sundays. So, if your spouse is
nagging you
for eating candy on Sundays, tell them to zip it, it's ok.
Do not be discouraged. Set goals and try
your best to keep
those goals. You'll hear two voices; you'll hear the voice of the
accuser
and the voice of the advocate. The voice of the accuser is
Satan.
The word Satan means tempter. That's the voice that says, "You're
no
good. Why don't you give up? Forget it, you can't clean up
your
act. You are never going to change." That's not God.
That is not even your conscience. That is the voice of the
accuser—the
one who hates you. There is another voice if you listen.
The more
you pray, the more you hear this voice. That voice says, "I love
you,
keep trying. Get up. Try again. Don't give up.
I love
you." That is the voice of the Holy Spirit—the advocate.
That
voice is with you today and will be with you throughout Lent.
I pray for all of us that this period of repentance is a
holy and blessed
season and that on Easter Sunday, each one of us can say, "I'm closer
to
God on April
16, 2006 than I was on March
1, 2006." With God's grace, we can be sure that that will be
a
reality.