Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday - The beginning of our Lenten Journey

Today we begin the liturgical season of lent. 40 days of prayer, fasting, and alms giving. 40 days of journeying through the wilderness and exploring our life in a new way. 40 days of preparing for celebrating fully Holy week. 40 days of doing the things we should be doing all year round but have failed to follow through on. We have before us 40 days, not all that long really, to enter into the desert with Jesus and face our temptations and sins. 40 days of repentance, metanoia in the Greek, meaning to turn away from something and toward something else. In this case to turn away from sin and turn towards God.

We spend this 40 days in imitation of Jesus who spend 40 days in the wilderness in preparation for his public ministry and his eventual death and resurrection. Like Jesus, we hope to someday rise again in new life into a reality that 'eye has not seen and ear has not heard'. God has something in store for us that our human words just can not describe. Are you ready to receive this awesome gift? Are you ready, at this very moment, for your salvation?

This is what lent is all about. To get ready for our own salvation. We hear from the second letter of Paul to the Corinthians; 'Behold, now is a very acceptable time, now is the day of salvation'. Lent is here, what will you do with this next 40 days?

Ash Wednesday is one of the most well attended days of the year besides Sundays, Christmas, and Easter. People flood into churches all over to receive ashes on their foreheads and be reminded that 'you are dust and to dust you shall return'. I live in a college town and the practice of receiving ashes is so popular that they actually have some ministers who offer drive through blessing and ashes. I settle for the one hour of prayer and mass that is common among Catholics, but I find it fascinating that people want so badly to receive this mark of ashes upon their forehead.

Why do so many people come out for this day? Why do so many think it is important enough to leave work early or set aside time in a busy schedule to go to church?

Is it just to get marked with the ashes? Do we go so that we can say we went and prove it? Do we go to be reminded that we are nothing, just dust, without the constant love and grace of God? Maybe we want to remember that we are sinful people and that we need a savior in Jesus Christ to redeem us. Or maybe we are at a point in our lives that we realize that we need to do some self reflection and we need to repent from some behavior that has enslaved us.

I believe we go out for all of these reasons and even more, but in this reflection today I want to focus on the mark of the ashes.

Today, we wear the mark of the ashes as a badge out into the world. This mark tells everyone that we are a Christian. That we are sinful people who are in need of a redeemer and our lives are centered around Christ. When we are at work or at play today we are outwardly telling everyone that Jesus Christ is Lord of our lives.

As Christians shouldn't we be doing this everyday? Why do we come out in droves on Ash Wednesday to get these ashes, but we don't carry out our faith everyday of our lives? Other people should not need to see ashes smeared on our foreheads once a year to know that we are Christians. They should know that we are Christians by the love that we share for them and others. At work, school, play, home, vacation, and anywhere else we go, we already carry the mark of our baptism. We already carry the Holy Spirit with us.

You are a Christian inside and outside of the church service you attend on Sundays. Are you fully living out your life as a Christian in the world?

Well, if you are like me the answer is a definite no. I am in need of repentance and I am looking forward to this lenten journey to help me grow in my faith life. Well, I now have 40 days of lent to focus my efforts on living out my Christian life. And so do you.

Please take advantage of the variety of great materials available to you to enhance your lenten journey. There are lots of daily books to help you by taking a few minutes each day to pray and reflect. There are many great programs on the radio, like relevant radio (930 am in the western suburbs of Chicago or download the app and listen anywhere, available on their website). Read a book by a great Christian Author like Mathew Kelly and strive to become the best version of yourself, or tap into the great writings and homilies from Pope Francis (available at the vatican website or by downloading the pope app). Another great way to approach lent would be to open up the bible and start reading it. There are many great programs out there that will help you read the bible in a year, or in a month. There is even an app from the Archdiocese of Chicago that will walk you through reading all 4 gospels during the lenten season.

I am going to add one more idea to your list of ways to move through lent. Read my weekly blogs/reflections. I received so much positive feedback from my Advent Reflections that after careful discernment and prayer I was prompted by God to do a series of Lenten reflections. I will be posting 1 set of reflections each week on Saturday or Sunday. Each reflection will have a central theme for the week, and then have 3 separate reflections based on the 3 great themes of lent; prayer, fasting, and alms giving. Feel free to read them all in one sitting or break them up into smaller bits and pieces throughout the week. I hope to offer practical, down to earth, suggestions to help you grow in your journey of faith.

I'm just a regular guy, who works a regular job, just like most of you. But in and through Christ I am made extraordinary. I hope one day to be a saint and enjoy the gift that my God has prepared for me since the beginning of time. I pray the same for you. I pray that this special season of lent will be enriching and will help you to grow into the person that God created you to be. With my love and prayers for a great lent for you. God Bless, Amen.

Doug Teckenbrock

Please feel free to post any comments on this blog. I welcome both positive and negative feedback but do not wish to argue about the faith with anyone. This is not the forum to debate our different practices and beliefs but this is a place to celebrate our belief in Jesus Christ as the Savior and redeemer of this world. I will not respond to inappropriate or hateful comments but instead will pray for you with increased fervor; so, if you write something nasty here know that I will be praying to God on your behalf quite regularly whether you like it or not.