Ash Wednesday Homily by Archbishop Patrick Pinder

Homily by
His Grace Archbishop Patrick C. Pinder, S.T.D., C.M.G., K.C*H.S.
Ash Wednesday
17 February, 2021


"Even now, says the Lord,
Return to me with your whole heart,
With fasting, and weeping, and mourning;
Rend your hearts, not your garments,
and return to the Lord your God." (Joel 2:12-13)


These words you recognize as words of the prophet Joel.  They form a part of the first reading for Ash Wednesday. We hear these words every year on this day.

We also hear this:

"Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise you will have no recompense from your heavenly father." (Matt. 6:1ff)

These are the words of Jesus drawn from the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew.  This is so unlike the prevailing attitude among us which is more like: "Be sure that your righteous deed and acts of charity are done so that everyone can see them and you can be given immediate recognition."

With the words of Joel and Jesus to orient us, the Church invites us to embrace this adventure we call Lent.  Lent is cast as a journey of 40 days, a journey in the image of the Exodus.  Lent is a journey of personal renewal which brings us closer to God, deeper into holiness and further and further away from our own sinfulness.

Lent is also a period of preparation for Easter.  In this regard, the 40 days of Lent are seen as having their roots in the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert preparing for his public life and ultimately for his crucifixion and glorification.

On this journey and adventure of Lent, the Church advises us to use the traditional practices of penance, namely prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

During these weeks of Lent we are encourages to put greater emphasis on our prayer life.  Many express this by including daily Mass attendance as a part of their Lenten discipline.  To that we may add daily, prayerful reading of scriptures.  It need not be more than ten minutes each day.  Take up and reflect on the readings of the day, each day this Lent, and you will discover how for the first half of the Lenten season, that is from now until Saturday of the third week of Lent, the scriptures emphasize the need for conversion in our lives.  We all need it!

After that, the theme shifts to the Mystery of Jesus Christ, Son of God, who is the healer and the life-giver.  He it is who gives life through his confrontation with death, his victory over death.

This then is the season to expand our prayer life, to increase our daily Mass attendance and to make time for and spend time with the Lord, especially in Sacred Scriptures.

In an earlier message to us for Lent, Benedict XVI, focused on FASTING.  He explains how the discipline of fasting has had its place in the entire history of salvation from the creation, through the patriarchs and prophets, in the life of Jesus and right down to our time.

He says that fasting represents an important spiritual arm to do battle against every possible disordered attachment in ourselves.  It enables the disciple of Christ to control the appetites of nature, weakened by original sin, whose negative effects impact the entire human person.

Benedict seeks to keep our enthusiasm in proper perspective and to ensure that we do not perform religious acts only to be seen.  He says that fasting is an aid to open our eyes to the conditions of others around us.  It enables us to grow in the spirit of the Good Samaritan by embracing acts of self-denial for the good of those whose basic needs are so much greater than our own.

So he brings together fasting and almsgiving which together with prayer complete the three aspects of our discipline of penance.  Again the Church invites us to embrace the journey and adventure of Lent for our good and for our salvation.

Now, if we make a Lenten Resolution, it should be something, meaningful, simple and practical.  It should not be something we forget about after the first week and never think about again after that.  It must be something meaningful, simple and practical.  I will pause briefly to let you think about a Lenten resolution which is meaningful, simple and practical. (PAUSE)  If our Lenten Resolution is meaningful, simple and practical, it will also be doable.

Our Lenten Resolution is our way of making a sincere effort to turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.  If we fail in our Lenten resolution we need not lose heart.  Just pick it up again and continue on the journey to Easter.

This Lent finds us living through a pandemic. We have had to live with many habit-changing protocols over the past eleven months.  This Ash Wednesday we have been asked to modify the ritual for the distribution of Ashes.  As the ashes are blessed, the formula, "Remember that you are Dust and to Dust you shall return" will be said only once for the entire assembly.

As you approach to receive your ashes remember that the ashes will not be placed on your forehead as usual but rather lightly sprinkled on the top of your head in silence.  So as you approach for your ashes gently bow your head in order to receive your ashes.  Hopefully, this will be the only time in our lifetime when we will have to receive our ashes this way.

Also, given this unusual way of receiving our ashes, I have asked that one person from each household take home a small container of ashes.  These are provided for you.  Keep the container of Ashes in a prominent place at home to remind you of the penitential nature of the Season of Lent and to remind you of your own Lenten Resolution.

Then on Palm Sunday, after you have received your Palm, bury the ashes in the earth and prepare to celebrate Holy week and Easter.

Let us now begin this Lent by blessing and receiving our ashes.  Let us also and most sincerely recall the words of the prophet Joel.  "Rend your hearts, not your garments and return to the Lord your God."

Let us remember the words of Jesus:  "Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them...."

Despite all the distraction in our lives at this moment, may each one of us have a meaningful and fruitful Lent.