Chúng ta là những người Công Giáo, chúng ta nhận ra nhu cầu của chúng ta là phải thừa nhận tội lỗi của chúng ta đã phạm nghịch cùng Thiên Chúa và chúng ta sự cần sự ăn năn hối cải. Vì thế Giáo Hội có những mùa đặc biệt sự ăn chay sám hối trong mùa Chay.\ Mùa Chay là một lời nhắc nhở lành mạnh cho chúng ta rằng chúng ta là những người tội lỗi: như thánh Gioan đã viết: "Nếu chúng ta nói, 'Chúng ta không có tội,' chúng ta lừa dối mình, và lẽ thật không ở trong chúng ta." (1 Ga 1: 8) Mùa Chay là thời gian để phản ánh trung thực và giúp chúng ta đạt niềm tin tưởng vào sự ăn năn thống hối trước mặt Thiên Chúa từ nhân và tha thứ.
REFLECTION ASH WEDNESDAY
Reflection: It was a common practice within the early Church that those who were found guilty of grave public sin needed to do public penance before they were admitted back into communion with the Church and admitted to the Most Holy Eucharist. The public sinners came forward in sackcloth forty days before Easter and were sprinkled with ashes, in keeping with many Old Testament examples of public penance. They fasted and prayed for forty days and then, on Easter, were readmitted into full communion with the Church. Eventually, prior to the end of the first millennium, this practice was extended to the entire Church as a way of highlighting everyone’s need for penance. One of the earliest mentions of this practice becoming universal comes from an English Benedictine monk who wrote:
We read in the books both in the Old Law and in the New that the men who repented of their sins bestrewed themselves with ashes and clothed their bodies with sackcloth. Now let us do this little at the beginning of our Lent that we strew ashes upon our heads to signify that we ought to repent of our sins during the Lenten fast.
Today, as a sign of our ongoing need to repent of our sins and do penance, the faithful are invited to come forward to be marked with ashes as a sign of their commitment to the penitential season of Lent, so as to celebrate with great joy the Solemnity of Easter. Lent is forty-six days long. Forty of those days are penitential days, and six of them are Sundays. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and concludes with the Easter Vigil. The forty penitential days are an imitation of Jesus’ forty days in the desert.
As we come forward to receive ashes, the minister traditionally says, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” This line is taken from the Book of Genesis when God expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. He told Eve that she would suffer the pains of childbirth and be subjected to her husband. God told Adam that he would labor for his food through sweat and toil. To both of them, God said this curse would last “Until you return to the ground, from which you were taken; For you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19). Thus, the final curse of original sin is death: “…to dust you shall return.”
As we come forward to receive ashes, we should hear God saying to us, as He said to Adam and Eve, that we also suffer the consequences of original sin and will die. But that curse must be seen in the light of God’s final plan of salvation. Today, we acknowledge that the curse of death will endure but also hold onto the hope of resurrection made possible through Christ. Lent is a time of repentance for our sin and hope in redemption. Ash Wednesday is our liturgical and public statement that we have chosen both repentance and redemption.
As you come forward to receive the ashes today, don’t just go through the motions. Make this act a prayer and one of deep interior devotion. Call to mind your sins and the sins of your whole life, as best you can. Acknowledge the just punishment of eternal death that you deserve for your sins. But then call to mind the infinite and unmerited mercy of God. Remember that even though you are an undeserving sinner, God has reached down from Heaven to offer you the gift of eternal salvation. He has invited you to receive this gift through your repentance and humility. Humble yourself today in “sackcloth and ashes,” and as with those public sinners of old, God will use this Lent to more fully unite your soul with His through His glorious death and resurrection.
Prayer: Most glorious and Triune God, You have justly condemned me but mercifully offered me redemption. As I enter this season of Lent, I wholeheartedly acknowledge my sin and repent. Please be merciful to me, a sinner. Help me to make this Lent a truly penitential season so that my soul will be more disposed to receive You this Easter. Jesus, I trust in You.
The Lenten season is a healthy reminder for us that we are sinners: as John wrote, "If we say, 'We have no sin,' we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." (1 Jn 1: 8) Lent is a time for honest reflection and trusting repentance before the compassionate and forgiving God.
Ashes are distributed today. The use of ashes as a sign of repentance is very ancient. There are many Biblical accounts of kings and noblemen, even of whole cities, sitting in ashes and wearing sackcloth, to show they were doing penance. Ashes symbolized a renunciation of evil and a renewal of life, symbolizing what is lowly and humble in contrast to worldly grandeur and power.
It is therefore fitting that at the beginning of Lent the most visible symbol is that of ashes on our foreheads to signify the interior spirit of humble penance and repentance of our Lenten observance.
In the blessing of the ashes the Church prays that the Lord may "pour out the grace of your blessing on your servants who are marked with these ashes, that, as they follow the Lenten observances, they may be worthy to come with minds made pure to celebrate the Paschal Mystery of your Son."
On the Friday after Ash Wednesday the first reading from Isaiah reminds us that lying in sackcloth and ashes does not make our fasting acceptable: "See the fast that pleases me: breaking the fetters of injustice and unfastening the thongs of the yoke; setting the oppressed free and breaking every yoke. Fast by sharing your food with the hungry, bring to your house the homeless; clothe the man you see naked and do not turn away from your own kin." (Is 58: 6- 7)
“When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do… When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites…When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites…” Matthew 6:2, 5, 16
Hypocrisy is an ugly sin. Essentially, being a hypocrite is being a fraud. The word itself comes from a Greek word referring to a mask that actors wear to depict their character. The person behind the mask would pretend that they were the person depicted by the mask. Therefore, a hypocrite is one who pretends to be who they are not.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus condemns those who give alms, pray and fast for the wrong reasons. Their almsgiving is not done out of charity and a desire to help, but out of an attempt to win the praise of others. They babble prayers on the street corner in an attempt to make others think they are holy. And when they fast, they make sure that their appearance looks “gloomy” so that others are impressed. Performing charitable works, praying and fasting are certainly good actions. But these actions must be authentic. Otherwise, they are not what they appear to be, and the one doing them is nothing other than an actor wearing a mask of virtue.
As we begin our Lenten season, we are each invited to take off the masks we wear so that the real person shines forth. We are especially called to combat any spiritual hypocrisy we struggle with for two important reasons. First, when people wear a mask of holiness, pretending to be more virtuous than they are, they sometimes end up even fooling themselves. Just as an actor may become so caught up in their character that they temporarily take on that character’s thoughts and feelings, so we also can become blinded by the truth of who we are when we habitually wear a mask of holiness. When that happens, we lose sight of who we are, where we need to grow, what we need to change and even what good there is within us. Lent is an important time for regaining authentic self knowledge so that we can grow in virtue.
It is also important to take off the mask so that others will benefit from our true selves. A person who pretends to be charitable, or pretends to pray, or pretends to be holy, cannot benefit others. God cannot authentically work through a hypocrite. Though the facade of holiness may seem appealing at first, the truth is that the real you, the authentic you, is the person that others want to know and will benefit from the most. Even your weaknesses and failures, when honestly faced, will become a source of strength and blessing for others.
Reflect, today, upon who you are. As your soul stands naked before the face of God, what does God see? Who are you? What masks do you wear? What is behind that mask? Use this Lent to look more deeply into your soul so that you will discover the person you are. Don’t be afraid to discover your sins and weaknesses. And don’t be afraid to see your authentic goodness. Seek to be real this Lent, and God will be able to shine more brightly through you.
My authentic Lord, You wear no mask, have no facade. The purity of Your divine soul shone through Your human nature as You walked the Earth, and now You call me to share in that purity. Please help me to see the ways that I hide behind false virtue, so that I can discover my true self. As I do, please transform me and shine forth through my soul for all to see. Jesus, I trust in You.
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