Inviting you to read this notes before we embrace the Season of Lent by tomorrow. Glad to share what my friend-priest has written for an Ash Wednesday Homily. Thanks Father Harold for giving me the permission. HOMILY NOTES Fr. Harold Anthony Parilla Right from the very beginnings of Christianity, the early believers have been accused of doing many strange and unusual things, even to the point of getting accused of cannibalism for “eating and drinking” what they claim as the “flesh and blood” of Jesus Christ. As we begin today the season of Lent, we submit ourselves to the ritual of the imposition of ashes, something that we have been so accustomed at doing that we have lost sight of how unusual the practice sounds especially to “outsiders”. Fr. Danny Huang, SJ, in his homily at the college quadrangle of the Ateneo de Manila University on March 5, 2003, described how strange this ritual of the imposition of ashes could come across. He said: “All throughout the year, we busy ourselves cleaning, and for some, whitening our faces. Astringents, facials, papaya soap, appointments with our ‘derma’ are part of our vital ‘life support systems’. And yet today, we consciously dirty and disfigure these precious kutis porcelana, de buena familia faces of ours. We will allow ourselves to be smeared with ashes, with dust.” And then the “why” question follows. Why? What is behind this ritual? What is the meaning of this strange behavior? Perhaps one way to understand the meaning of this ritual is to look at it in terms of three invitations. The first invitation is “to acknowledge”. A quick review of the past year brings to mind the fragility of our life, the fleeting quality of our existence. We have seen one calamity after another which claimed thousands of precious lives and destroyed hard-earned properties. What sends shivers down my spine is not the just the thought of losing life and property. What is more scary is the swiftness with which the end of everything we hold dear can come. In Bohol, people were lazily eating breakfast, when all of a sudden, without the benefit of warning or preparation, the earth shook violently, and in a matter of seconds, the world around them changed. Just like that, like a snap of the finger or a blink of the eye. When we approach the minister for the imposition of ashes, we are invited to acknowledge that we are fragile, and finite, and unable to guarantee our own permanence. This invitation pulls us back to the ground, and reminds us not to overindulge in self-importance, not to allow our heads to swell in pride, not to take ourselves over-seriously. From dust we come, to dust we shall return. The second invitation is “to listen”. The entire season of Lent can be viewed as a sustained period of listening. The fasting and abstinence, the penitential atmosphere, the moving away from the noise of our usual pleasures, are calls to pay attention to the “groanings” of the Spirit within. All these in the hope, that if we listen, we hear God’s invitation to renewal. When we approach the minister for the imposition of ashes, we hear it spoken to us, individually, God’s call to a new life: “Repent, and believe the Gospel”. We are not just finite creatures aimlessly waiting for our unceremonious end. To paraphrase the self-description of Pope Francis, we are sinners – yes – but we are not doomed. We have been “looked upon”, and loved, and called by the Lord. Finally, the invitation “to identify”. By identification here is meant the call to solidarity. When we look around after the imposition of ashes, we see all our foreheads dirtied and smeared, without exception, even that of the presider. When we look around, hopefully we experience a surge of consolation seeing that we are not alone in our struggles with imperfection, and that we are given the chance of renewal as a community so that we can lean on each other for understanding and support. Yes, the person seated next to you is a fragile sinner as well, but like you, she has been looked upon by the Lord with as much love. There is no judgment there, only solidarity, and compassion for a fellow pilgrim. Today we allow our faces to be smeared in order to remember our fragility, our call, and our communion. We ask for the grace required to respond readily to these invitations. Amen.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Mar 2014 03:32:03 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015