Lent and the judgment of God

Fr. Peter Hrytsyk preached a robustly engaging homily this evening at our Ash Wednesday liturgy at St. Josaphat Church. He pointed out how in recent years the accent in Lenten homilies has been on the kinder, gentler themes of springtime, in keeping with the etymology of the term Lent [from the Old English lencten for "spring"], with analogies drawn to the "spring cleaning" of our souls, and so forth. These 'softer' and more 'comfortable' contemporary readings of the meaning of Lent, however, may gloss over what lies closer to the heart of the Lenten message in the Church's liturgy, he suggested.

The most effective way to bring one's spiritual understanding into focus, Fr. Hrystyk suggested, is to look closely at what liturgical prayers of the Church bring into focus for the season and to let our own thinking and sentiments be guided by the mind of the Church. He read the English translation of portions of the prayers for the Blessing of the Ashes in the Ash Wednesday liturgy, illustrating the emphasis of the Church's prayers, which are much more pointed and spiritually incisive than any cheery emphasis on "spring cleaning." Let's have a look.

The first of the four prayers for the Blessing of the Ashes in the extraordinary or Tridentine form of the Roman rite states (the added emphasis is mine): "O almighty and everlasting God, spare those who are penitent, be merciful to those who implore Thee; and vouchsafe to send Thy holy Angel from heaven, to bless + and hal+low these ashes, that they may be a wholesome remedy to all who humbly implore Thy holy name, and who accuse themselves, conscious of their sins, deploring their crimes before Thy divine mercy ..."

[Psssst! Hey, when's the last time you've hear anything like THAT in your parish?]

The second prayer implores God, "who desirest not the death, but the repentance of sinners," to look down graciously upon the frailty of human nature and bless the ashes to be placed on our heads "in token of our lowliness and to obtain forgiveness," so that "we who know that we are but ashes, and for the demerits of our wickedness are to return to dust, may deserve to obtain of Thy mercy the pardon of all our sins ..."

The fourth prayer is particularly poignant: "Almighty and everlasting God, who dist vouchsafe Thy healing pardon to the Ninivites doing penance in sackcloth and ashes, mercifully grant that we may so imitate them in our outward attitude as to follow them in obtaining forgiveness...."

[Get a load of THAT! Remember the Ninivites? Those were the pagans whom Jonah called to repentance -- after God used some extreme measures involving a whale to elicit his cooperation -- and they were so notoriously wicked, that Jonah was actually upset when they repented and God showed them his mercy! And here the Church is upholding the Ninivites as models of repentance for us to emulate!]

Why should we find it so bracing -- so refreshing -- to hear a sermon on the importance of God's judgment and repenting from sin today? It has become such a rarity in our culture to hear these truths today that we tend to get lulled into a spiritual stupor by the flaccid therapeutic banalities promoting self-esteem, self-empowerment, and self-indulgence all around us.

There's something like the shock of a cold bucket of water being dumped on us when we are given a description of our own condition that resonates with authenticity and rings true to our experience. We know in our hearts that we are sinners, that we need God's mercy and forgiveness; and we see as in a mirror our own condition and our own deepest need in the abrasive realism of the Church's prayers imploring God to spare us of our sins and wickedness. The cold water, leaving us dripping and shivering, tells us: "Wake up! This is for real!"