Thoughts about Ash Wednesday

With Ash Wednesday (AW) coming upon us, I wanted to remind folks who were interested in gaining the full experience of the Lenten season to attend an AW service tomorrow. AW marks the first day of Lent and offers an opportunity for us to recognize that while we enter a season that prepares us to experience the depths of sorrow and darkness in journeying with Christ to the cross, there is an ultimate celebration that awaits with an empty tomb and a risen Jesus on Easter morning.

While Lent can be a time for a personal journey with Christ, it is no less a communal one. I still remember a few years ago when I attended an AW service at St. Elizabeth's in Rowland Heights. It was a rainy evening and Paul and I made our way to the local parish to participate in their AW mass. It was our first service at this particular parish so we arrived early (for once). We found the sanctuary and some empty seats. Soon afterwards crowds began filling the pews. We looked around and noticed the community was made up of Hispanic, Asian and Caucasian families, young and old. There were hundreds of people awaiting the commencement of the evening mass and it didn't take long for the entire church to fill up.

The service began and while the Father exhorted us to appropriately position our hearts for the Lenten season, I couldn't help but notice the distractions. Babies were crying, children were ancy, others came in late with their wet umbrellas and jackets looking for any available seats while those already seated shifted around making room for them. Then towards the end of the Mass, we lined up and moved towards the front of the church to receive our ashes.

I'd noticed that by that time, there were lots more people who were standing in the back because there were no more seats available. With close to one thousand of us trying to get our ashes, it was clearly not going to happen without a bit of choas. Yet standing in line, tears began to fill my eyes. I sensed that the presence of Jesus was there, inviting us all to follow Him to the cross...and here I was, wanting to respond to that invitation but feeling so distracted by what was going on outside of me and feeling so divided by what was going on inside of me.

Paul and I talked about it later and he commented that it seemed symbolic to him that it was exactly this chaos that Jesus chose to come into. And then it struck me. All of us, who were wet, tired and cold on a Wednesday evening, Jesus came for. All of the peoples who were represented--young, old, black, brown, white, working class, barely-making-it class, those in poverty, Jesus chose to die for. All of us divided ones, distracted ones, crying ones, Jesus chose to be among.

It is a picture that is still so vivid in my memory. All of us herded along in that line, responding to the invitation to follow Him to the cross. I hope you all have the opportunity to experience this invitation in community as we enter into the Lenten season.