Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday. My girls and I went to Mass and received ashes as we enter into the Holy season of Lent.

Christians around the world mark the beginning of this deeply reflective time inclusive of both sacrifice and a call to a deeper relationship with Christ with the placing of ashes on their foreheads.

Ashes transport us back to the Jewish custom of repentance through stripping off clothes, putting on sackcloth and sitting in ashes. 

The placing of ashes coincides with these words: “Remember, man, you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” or “Turn away from sin, and be faithful to the Gospel.”

How true are those words. In the receiving of ashes, we are reminded of both the brevity of our life on Earth and the tremendous yearning God has for our souls.

One Lenten activity my children have enjoyed is coloring in a Lenten coloring book from The Little Way.

As Catholics, our hope is in the Resurrection, but our strength comes from the crucifixion. We cannot separate these two events. We cannot gloss over the suffering of Christ by painting it with bunnies and flowers and an empty cross. The truth is that the tomb was empty, but only because, in God’s act of redemptive suffering and love, Jesus suffered an agonizing and unimaginable death.

Perhaps some of us struggle to embrace the joy of the Resurrection in this very moment. Perhaps the pain is too deep or too raw to see past the hurt. In walking the Lenten journey, in focusing on sacrifice and in meditating on the stations of the cross, we find compassion in Christ. He never asks us to do more than He already has done. He understands our pain. He suffers right along with us. He walks the road – carrying his own cross. He pours his love out in blood. He extends forgiveness in the most difficult of circumstances.

If you are suffering this Lent, if you struggle to see the hope in the Resurrection, walk the journey with Christ. Let His compassion and strength travel with you. Let Him embrace you and suffer with you. 

And then, on that glorious Resurrection Sunday, when the tomb is empty and only the burial cloths remain, let Him soften your hurt and grow your hope. Let Him claim you as His own.

For those who are on the fence, do not be afraid to explore the suffering of Christ – Protestants and Catholics alike can find strength in walking the road to Calvary. For when we look into the face of the suffering Christ, when we see his wounds (and this can be through a crucifix like this one from the traveling Shroud of Turin exhibit or through the vivid imagery we find in Scripture), we find love in its truest form.