Ash Wednesday Be Church Now

"God created you from dust and to God you shall return." I'm sure those aren't exactly the right words, but it is what I say to parishioners and visitors alike as I place slightly too oily ashes on their foreheads or hands.

Growing up, Lent was a Catholic thing, by which I mean everyone in our community was engaged. The three protestants in my elementary school classroom showed up on-time on Ash Wednesday, and we waited for our ash marked friends to show up after church. Our cafeteria served meatless lunches. I knew that Lent was about fasting although we called it "giving up for Lent."

What I didn't know was that Lent has three penitent activities: prayer, fasting, and charity. Interesting that I didn't know the charity component! (Although I remember now that my church's "Bunnies for Bolivia" fundraising was during Lent.) What is really interesting is that in 1966 Pope Paul VI in chapter III of the Apostolic Constitution, changed the approach to fasting. Where economic well-being is prominent, the pope writes that the church witness of asceticism is important. Where people live in poverty, however "it will be more pleasing to God the Father and more useful to the members of the Body of Christ if Christians—while they seek in every way to promote better social justice—offer their suffering in prayer to the Lord in close union with the Cross of Christ."

Essentially, everyone engages in prayer, but people with excess should practice Lent with asceticism and charity, while those without enough should simply offer the suffering they already experience as their penitence. And that everyone should, as part of their Lenten practice, “promote better social justice.”

I encourage congregations to focus on what they can do for justice during this Lenten season. Instead of giving something up, consider doing one action every day to protect people who are trans, to protect people who are immigrants, or to protect the environment. Choose something that helps maintain our social safety net. Imagine that your act of penitence this season could be to protect the people in our nation.

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