I Got Mine

 

"But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire." 

(Mt 3:7-10)

Ash Wednesday--the most attended non-holy day of obligation, and the most well attended Mass by non-practicing Catholics and non-Catholics alike--is just around the corner. Isn't that a curious socio-spiritual phenomenon? I suppose it's a little surprising that Catholics who would not attend Mass on a Sunday or think to go to on HDO are eager--excited even--to get their foreheads smudged and willingly give up their favorite treats and even maybe meat once a week as well. Perhaps its akin to the Jordan Peterson phenomenon: why would a guy telling us to "make your damn bed" and give us rules to live by be treated like the father we never had and elevated to international guru status? Haven't our moms been telling us to do the same thing since we were teenagers? 

I think all of us--even the most effeminate hedonists--feel the hangover of self-indulgence from time to time. A sated man loathes honey, as it says in Proverbs. We're kind of like King Herod in that way, lounging around after being tickled with feathers all day and popping grapes and figs when we hear about Jesus. Self-denial is the new kid on the block--let's go meet him! "When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform a sign of some sort. He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer" (Lk 23:8-9). 

Seasoned Catholics who have worn butt-marks in their self-assigned pews can get a little uppity when the C&E crowd swell the church, and we have to remember that Christ came to save sinners, "of whom I am the first" (1 Tim 1:15). Well, here are the sinners, come to repent and be saved. Why are we so upset? What more do we want of people? They're here, aren't they?

If I can speculate, it's because Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the penitential season hold so much potential for change and metanoia, which is the true essence of the Gospel, and also has the potential to get so botched in the process, that veteran Catholics really need to put their blinders on and focus first and foremost on their own sins and need for repentance before they start looking around the pews casting judgment. That's really hard, because let's be honest--by logging so many hours in Church, even on non HDO's--we can feel like we have earned the right to such judgment, to play gatekeeper and arbiter of all that is truly Catholic. We may have mastered our stomach and our loins and our wandering eyes, but the heart in its pride is truly wily and will lead us to Hell faster than the other two combined.

But this still hasn't answered the question of why Ash Wednesday is so. dang. popular. John the Baptist drew the crowds with his message of repentance--and while many came with tears of contrition wishing to be washed clean, that wasn't the case with everyone. Some were there because it was the place to be.  The prophet Joel exhorts, "rend your hearts and not your garments" (Joel 2:13) and John the Baptist too said that axe was coming to cut people at the knees. He didn't give them a trinket and a pat on the back to go home with. Only that they must be born again. If you really wanted to change, you could, marked by the waters of baptism at the hands of John. If you were simply along for the ride to see a local celebrity, you had some choice words awaiting you from the grizzly prophet. 

While the major news outlets love pictures of Catholics with ashes on their foreheads to mark the beginning of the penitential season, including "devout Catholics" like President Biden and Nancy Pelosi, I hold photographs like this one, of my friend Moira outside the President's parish, as more in keeping with the season and true to the message of the Baptist.

I am reminded of the story of St. Mary of Egypt who was born to Christian parents in Alexandria but lived a life of sin for almost 17 years from the age of 12. One day, she decided to board a ship to Jerusalem. When she arrived, she wished to go into the church of the Resurrection but a divine power prevented her from entering. She quickly realized that it was because of her sinful life that she couldn’t enter. She wept bitterly and asked the Virgin Mary to intercede on her behalf in front of God. Then, she was able to enter the church freely and she prayed to God for Him to guide her. She looked towards an icon of the Virgin Mary, praying for guidance and salvation when suddenly a voice came out saying, “If you cross the Jordan river you will find rest and salvation.” She quickly crossed the river to the wilderness where she lived for 47 years doing penance.

Smearing ashes on the forehead of an unrepentant sinner is kind of like recladding a termite-infested cottage with cheap vinyl. The priest of the parish has a great opportunity here to be the Baptist for the day and chemical-bomb the termites rather than be preoccupied with the vinyl siding covering. Come out with fire from the pulpit--what other opportunity will you have to have these cultural Catholics or even non-Catholics in your pews, ripe for conversion and open to change--apart from this most popular day of ashes? Pray for the Holy Spirit to cut all to the heart, as it says in Acts--the grace of shame which converted those Jews (Acts 2:36-37). If you're going to be a little "mean" once a year, this is the day to do it. 

The time is short for repentance, and we don't want to feed the Instagram hopper with more #ashwednesday selfies as a cover for "evangelization." In giving up the meat of sin for a month and a half, deliver a juicy T-bone of fire in your sermon. This is your moment to bring people home. Cut us all to the knees. Wet our cheeks. Focus everything you have on indicting us to turn from our wicked ways. This is your 8mile moment--do not miss your chance to blow. Channel your inner Jeremiah:

“If you, Israel, will return,

    then return to me,”

declares the Lord.

“If you put your detestable idols out of my sight

    and no longer go astray,

 and if in a truthful, just and righteous way

    you swear, ‘As surely as the Lord lives,’

then the nations will invoke blessings by him

    and in him they will boast.”

 This is what the Lord says to the people of Judah and to Jerusalem:

“Break up your unplowed ground

    and do not sow among thorns.

 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord,

    circumcise your hearts,

    you people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,

or my wrath will flare up and burn like fire

    because of the evil you have done—

    burn with no one to quench it.

(Jer 4:1-4)

I have to believe that many CINOs and C&E Catholics are showing up on Ash Wednesday to their local parish because there is a small still voice in them that is whispering that they need to change, that they need to turn back and circumcise their hearts. Yes, they may be babies in faith and in need of milk. But there are also those who may be there wanting the fire, and wondering who will blast them with it--not in condemnation to drive them out, but with meat and substance to pull them in. What is the point of repentance when there is nothing to be saved from? This is the scandal of the modern Church--that we have nullified Christ's sacrifice by our apathy, lukewarmness, desire for cheap grace while taking for granted the cost of that holy death. 

"I want to change but I don't know how." Tell them how.  Tell them when Confession is. Give them a catechism and walk them through it. Tell them it's  a mortal sin to skip Mass if they have been doing so--if not you, who else is going to tell them? Say it with a smile and in love, of course, because you love them and you love their soul. It's ok to cry, the salty streams of shame across the contours of the cheeks. You love them more than ashes. You love them more than sweets. You love them more than all the tokens. You love them in their sin because you love the truth. 

So yes, give and get your ashes. But don't be afraid to be a Baptist if you are the pastor, even if just for a day. Let the purging cleanse of fire fly from the pulpit. Take the blowback beating if you need to. Today is the day of salvation. Do not let it pass you by.