Thoughts on Ash Wednesday

 

Ash Wednesday

In the Gospel for Ash Wednesday, we hear Jesus remind us three times that our hidden acts are neither unseen nor unrewarded. No, “your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.” Taking up our daily cross (see Luke 9:23) is the most important penance we can offer—the daily cross of our state of life, such as: going to sometimes unsatisfying work for your family; helping your children for the umpteenth time with patient love and a smile even when tired or upset; as a Religious or Priest, rising early once again, to offer praise to God and to intercede for the many needs we learn of, and working to alleviate them; and at the eve of life, being patient with the infirmities and limitations as they increase—and offering them with prayer for others. “And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.”   Those hidden acts of self-sacrifice are neither unseen nor unrewarded. In fact, they are proofs of genuine love. We deepen our conversion through the often-unchosen penances of daily life.   Grumbling makes our burdens un-bearable. Love, however, is healing and lightens the load: loving God in prayer; loving others in self-giving generosity; and loving ourselves in fasting, which quiets the demands of our untamed nature.    Lord God, help us as we begin this Holy Season to take up our daily cross with love, so that our conversion to You may ever deepen. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.   In His healing wounds,   Fr. Joseph Mary Wolfe, MFVA