Message From Vinnie

ASH WEDNESDAY

March 2003

It was the custom in ancient Rome, when a triumphant military leader was making his procession through the streets, to assign a servant to walk right behind him reminding him over and over again, in a loud whisper, “You are mortal and you will die. This is not real. You are mortal and you will die.”  As the people hailed him with honor and glory, as rose petals and ribbons were thrown in his path, as proud and as powerful as this day might make him feel, the wisdom of riding with death as your close companion was never lost or forgotten.  In other words, the momentary glories of life were brought back into perspective by the reality of death.

The wonderful paradox, however, is this : that knowing death as a constant companion is to know how sweet each moment of life really is, it is to know how precious every encounter can be, it is to grow as a compassionate and forgiving human being, it is to become most fully alive.

Tonight we celebrate this paradox with an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual understanding by having ashes rubbed onto our foreheads with the mark of the cross. With the words, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.” Remember that death is your constant companion; your reminder of just how sweet and wonderful life is or can be.

Tonight we are invited to join in observing a holy Lent, a time of fasting and prayer, of self-denial and self-examination, a time of taking stock of how we live our lives in the choices we make, in the things we have done and in the things we have left undone. 

Tonight we begin an intentional time of recognizing the behaviors in our lives that keep us from wholeness, that turn us away from the love of God and from loving each other,

Tonight we begin a time of intentionally letting go of whatever is not life-giving.

That is a lot of work to do in only 40 days. The blessing is…Lent is a time of doing this work, not a time of completing this work. And so we begin paradoxically at the end, by remembering that one-day we will die.

In this remembering is the hope that tomorrow will be sweeter and more alive.

In this remembering is our prayer that tomorrow we will be a more forgiving and accepting self.

In this remembering is our belief that we will awaken to the truth that is in us – the truth that God wants abundant life for each and every creature on earth.

In this remembering is God’s promise to us of eternal life.

We invite you to a holy and life-giving Lent……..

Amen.