Word and Wisdom: Ash Wednesday 2025

We do not commemorate Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, with a burst of colorful balloons but with dry as dust dark ashes. To understand why this is so, we must revisit the biblical context where such burnt offerings express sorrow for sin and pleas for forgiveness.

In Genesis 18:27, Abraham, our father in faith, declares that he is “nothing but dust and ashes.” In Jonah 3:6, the king of Ninevah covers himself with sackcloth and sits in ashes, begging God to forgive his evil ways. Job (42:6) repents in the same manner for ever doubting the mystery and majesty of the Most High. And in the book of Esther (4:1), we read that when Mordecai “learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes [and] put on sackcloth and ashes…”

Though we live in a climate captivated by the allure of instant gratification, we find in the readings  for today the stark reminder that without God we are and can do nothing. No wonder hundreds of believers and sincere seekers line up row after row to let themselves be signed with ashes and to hear that they are dust and that the time is now to listen to the Good News and repent.

The first reading from Joel 2:12-18 declares that we have no choice but to return to God with heartfelt contrition. To rend asunder the core of our being and to inspire others--elders and children, priests and people--to do the same halts our litany of excuses for disobeying God’s commands. This reading shifts our focus from disobedience to the development of an enlightened and intimate relationship with God, who “is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love” (2:13).

The responsorial Psalm 51 confirms the necessity to confess our sins (3-4) and ready ourselves to receive the saving grace of God. The psalmist invites us in so many words to walk humbly in the truth of who we  are, which is St Teresa of Avila’s definition of humility. Ashes are a fitting symbol of the sacrifices our saving God asks of us: not garments torn asunder but a broken spirit and a contrite heart (17).

In The Dark Night (2.12.1), St John of the Cross says, when meditating on this psalm, that “cleanness of heart [a pure heart] is nothing less than the love and grace of God…for blessedness is derived from nothing else but love.” He also says in DN 1.11.2 that the sacrifice most pleasing to God is that of a spirit in distress who desperately needs his love.

Following Psalm 95:8 (“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts”) is the reading from 2 Corinthians 5:17. It reaffirms the reconciling effect of accepting the favor of God’s forgiveness. The lowly symbol of ashes becomes the loving sign of God’s call to rise above the devastating effects of pride, disobedience, and hard-heartedness to the heightened state of becoming Christ’s ambassadors. 

St John of the Cross says of this conversion that “solicitude for God and longings about serving him increase…the only anxiety that remains in the soul concerns that of serving God in dryness and nakedness.” He adds in this same passage (DN 1.14.13) that “such  yearnings are pleasing to God, indeed the afflicted spirit is a sacrifice to God” (Ps 51:17).

The Gospel of Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18, quells our inordinate need to be praised with trumpet blasts for our accomplishments. Vanity blinds us to the truth that such honors disappear like dust blown away by the wind. Validating the fact that vain persons will not receive a reward from God for their works is St Teresa of Avila’s teaching in The Way of Perfection that we must etch on our heart three essential virtues to defeat the vices of vainglory; of gross attachments to worldly goods; and, worst of all, of a lack of love. Ash Wednesday is a perfect time to practice her triple way of humility, detachment, and charity.

Having been made a new creation and having been given the ministry of reconciliation, we are in a position to practice as well the threefold “secret” proclaimed in Matthew’s Gospel: to give to others in secret, for our Father who sees in secret will reward us; to pray in secret; and to fast in unseen ways. We will, therefore, be hidden with Christ, as he is hidden in God (Col 3:3).

Ashes grant us the perfect cover to experience our Lord in hiding, that is, as St John of the Cross says in The Spiritual Canticle (Stanza 1:9), “in a way transcending all language and feeling,” detached from the worldliness of the world and offering our time, talent, and treasure in service of the Lord.

Questions for Reflection

1. What moves you to repent for your sins? Fear of punishment or love for your merciful Lord?

2. Why do you believe that the sacrifices most pleasing to God are a broken spirit and a contrite heart?

3. How do you practice on a daily basis St Teresa of Avila’s triple way of humility, detachment, and charity?