14 February 2024 – Ash Wednesday (Year B)

by Fr Fabian Dicom

Well I don’t see any gloomy faces here amongst you in spite of fasting the whole day. So I presume you put oil on your hair and washed your face. I only washed my face. I didn’t put oil on my hair because there’s not enough on the top.

Anyway, my homily has been translated into Tamil and Mandarin and I believe some of you have it. If you want to take out your phones and look at them in Tamil or Mandarin, please go ahead.

My dear brothers and sisters, today as we gather to mark the beginning of the sacred Season of Lent, we are reminded of our human frailty or how fragile we are. And not only that, that our utter dependence, because of who we are, that we depend totally on the grace of God.

As the words ‘Remember that you are dust and to the dust you shall return‘ or ‘Repent and believe in the Gospel‘ are spoken as these words are spoken later today, and as we are marked with ashes in the sign of the cross, we are invited to enter into a period of reflection. We are invited to enter into a period of repentance and renewal.

The first line of the First Reading for the Season of Lent is in the form of an invitation from God. It is the Lord who speaks: Come back, come back to me with all your heart, fasting, weeping, mourning. You come back to me. “Turn to the Lord, your God“, we hear in the Reading, for He is all tenderness, He is all compassion. We are hearing there in those words the fundamental call of Lent. The call involves firstly a recognition that all of us, you and I, are sinners. That in various ways, we have turned away from God. It is also a recognition that the God that we have turned away from is a God of tenderness, a God of compassion.

Saint Paul in the Second Reading today goes further and reminds us that the God from whom you and I have turned away has sought us. Has sought us out and continues to seek us out in the person of His Son, Jesus. For our sake, we hear in the Second Reading: God made the Sinless One into sin so that in Him, we might become the goodness of God. What a powerful statement!

God sent His Son to become like us so that we might become like Him.

God in His Son, Jesus, journeyed towards our limited and imperfect condition so that we might journey towards God’s goodness and perfection.

Let me repeat that.

God in His Son, Jesus, journeyed towards our limited and imperfect condition so that we might journey towards God’s goodness and perfection.

Fantastic.

Now with that kind of disposition, with that kind of mind and heart, my dear brothers and sisters, I invite you to liken or to equate this whole entry today, this evening into Lent, to an entry into the desert. I want you to imagine this that as you are walking, metaphorically into Lent, that you go into this desert, the spiritual desert. A place that is barren, a place there of nothingness, a place of silence. Silence. I really hope there is a lot of silence from now on. A place of no distraction. A place of total, total dependence on God.

And to help us make that journey, to help us, Pope Francis can guide us because his Lenten Message for this year is entitled: Through the desert God leads us to freedom. His message for Lent revolves around the theme of Liberation. Liberation from bondage, drawing parallels between Israelites, Exodus from Egypt and our journey towards freedom from the various forms of slavery in modern times.

He emphasises the need to listen to the cries of the oppress and marginalised, urging us to confront the structures and systems that perpetuate inequality and indifference. Telling us that in this process, it is not only about you. It is about everyone, and especially those who are oppressed. And that is the way we enter into the spirit of Lent. There is a social dimension to Lent which complements our personal journey in that desert.

The Pope highlights the importance of concrete actions during Lent such as all that we have been saying: Prayer, Almsgiving and Fasting. But he uses these as ways to break free from attachments and idols that hinder our spiritual growth. Please note that when you talk about idols or idolatry, the modern day idolatry are not images, not statues.

The question is:
Do we worship at the altar of materialism? That our preoccupation is possession?
Do we worship at the altar of our pride and ego?
Are we preoccupied how many likes and views we have on social media that we look at it every ten minutes?
Do we worship at the altar of self-centeredness which excludes other people? Which excludes other people and their needs and their desires?

This is the modern day idolatry that the Pope urges us to move away from.

He says Lent demands that we confront indifference and idolatry, casting aside the lure of materialism and self-centeredness in favour of concrete acts of compassion, in favour of concrete acts of solidarity with those in need. So while we fast, while we pray, this is as important as everything else.

He encourages communal reflection and decision making, that synodal approach to foster positive change in the parish, in society, emphasising the significant joyful witness and genuine transformation rather than superficial displays of piety.

Throughout his message, Pope Francis calls for courage and hope. Reminding us that true conversion leads to creativity and new possibilities, even in the face of adversity. He concludes by blessing all believers on their Lenten journey and expressing optimism for the future, rooted in faith, rooted in charity and the life-changing power of hope.

So my dear brothers and sisters, let us therefore respond wholeheartedly to the call of God to ‘Come back to me with all your heart‘.

‘Come back to me with all your heart‘.

As we enter into the desert of Lent:-
Let us engage in prayer, surrendering ourselves to the Almighty and deepening our relationship with Him.
Let us fast, humbling ourselves before God and allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal our true spiritual condition 
Let us engage in acts of charity, in works of solidarity, strengthening our love for others and contributing to greater social justice.

And as we receive the ashes upon our foreheads, let us be reminded of our humble origins and ultimate destination. From dust we have come, and to dust we shall return.

Yet, my dear brothers and sisters, yet in the divine embrace of God’s love, we are made anew. That is the hope. Transformed into vessels of hope and instruments of peace.

May this Lenten Season be a time of profound transformation for each and every one of us and we pray for each other.

May we journey together through the desert, guided by the radiant light of Jesus Christ until we reach the Promised Land of freedom and joy.

Amen.

Click below to listen to homily and watch video:-

Click to live-stream Mass on 14 February 2024