By FR. RICHARD D. BRETON JR.
(Editor’s Note: Fr. Richard D. Breton is a priest of the Diocese of Norwich, Conn.)
Masks Block Our Relationships
First, we wear the mask that blocks our relationship with God. This is the one Jesus points to in the Gospel challenging us to be people of prayer. He tells us to work on our prayer life, in sincerity of heart, not just going through the motions. He wants our prayers to have meaning, enabling us to grow in our relationship with Him.
Second, we wear a mask that hinders our relationships with other people. This is the one Jesus points to when He tells us to give alms in secret. He wants us to open our hearts to our neighbors. He wants us to care about them, to be interested in them, to look for ways to serve and encourage them, instead of looking for ways to take advantage of them.
Third, we wear a mask that blocks our growth in spiritual maturity. This is the one Jesus points to when He tells us to fast in secret. He wants us to learn the art of self-governance and self-discipline, of humility and nobility. He wants to free us from the degrading slavery of our base instincts of worldly desires.
On February 22, we begin the season of Lent by celebrating Ash Wednesday. Lent is a season of transformation, a season when we can come before the Lord and shed the masks that cause difficulties in our lives. Jesus wants the truth and the power of His love to penetrate and transform our lives. But he needs us to take off our masks and ready ourselves for true conversion. We need to peel them away, like peeling an old bandage, so that His grace can heal the wounds incurred during the last year.
On Ash Wednesday the ashes we receive are meant to remind us of these things. They remind us we are sinners. That even though we are children of God, we are still experiencing the fallen world. Sin and temptation separate us from God, who is the source of all life. Our sinfulness makes us lifeless in the Lord’s eyes, like lifeless ashes, the leftovers of burned palms. Ashes remind us that our sins are acts of selfishness and cause damage to our souls.
These ashes are made from palm branches we bless on Palm Sunday. They symbolize Christ’s victory over sin. Our sins forfeit that victory. They destroy the life that God calls us to live, just as the palm branches from last year’s Palm Sunday were destroyed to make these ashes.
Most important, the ashes remind us that despite our sins, despite our deep-seeded selfishness, God hasn’t given up on us. Christ is our Redeemer! He claims us for His own. We still have a mission in His Kingdom; He still wants us to be His ambassadors.
Yes, we are marked with ashes, because we are sinners, but the mark is given in the sign of Christ’s cross, which won for us the grace of a new life in Christ. We are marked on our heads, because Christ wants us to go boldly into the world as His representatives. He is not ashamed of us; he wants our love. He is our Savior.
Lent is also a season devoted to penance. This is why the church is bare and the color purple is used as a reminder of the penitential season to which we have entered. The emptiness of the Lenten Season calls us to empty ourselves to the Lord in preparation for the solemn festivities to come. Within this time we are called to look inwardly and examine our relationship with the Lord. One may ask, how do we do this and what can we use to assist us in this task?
Every year during our Lenten journey, we commemorate the Passion of Christ during two distinct moments. First, on Palm Sunday, we commemorate the final days in the life of our Lord by commemorating His triumphant entry into Jerusalem and the Passion which was endured. Palm Sunday is the beginning of Holy Week when we remember the most important days of our Lord’s life.
Second, on Good Friday, we commemorate the Lord’s Passion, crucifixion, and death. On Good Friday we walk with Christ as He carries the weight of humanity on His shoulders.
At each fall, the weight of our sins causes great agony for our Lord. And yet, knowing what must be done to save us, He gets up and continues on. He reaches Calvary, is nailed to the cross, and hangs there in agony and pain.
The Seven Last Words
In both of these commemorations, there is a beautiful dialogue that takes place between the Father and the Son. Jesus speaks on behalf of humanity, that by sharing in our human nature, He completes the task that was divinely required of Him. He carries our fallen nature, and it is nailed to the cross in order that we might be freed from the corruption of darkness, sin, and death. This dialogue is known as the Seven Last Words of Christ.
Here is what Christ speaks to the Father on our behalf: Father forgive them for they know not what they do; Today thou shalt be with me in paradise; Woman behold thy son — behold thy mother; My God, My God why hast thou forsaken me; I thirst; It is finished; Father into thy hands I commend my spirit.
Each of these “words” spoken by Christ offers us an opportunity to examine how we have experienced similar moments in our lives.
As we begin this Lenten season, Christ offers us the grace we need to make a fresh start in our friendship with Him. He offers us the strength we need to peel away whichever mask is blocking His love, a love which never wavers. Let’s accept this love and put it to work. Let’s not begin this Lent without committing to peeling away one of those masks, whether it be in our relationship with God, with our neighbor, or with ourselves. If we promise to do our part this Lent, we can be sure Christ will do His!
This Lent we journey together along the way to Calvary. Over the next few weeks, we will reflect on the Seven Last Words of Christ and how the words spoken on the cross are a reminder of the struggles we experience in life.
May we make a strong amendment to change our lives, so that when the stone is rolled away, we may emerge into the glory of Easter as a new person radiant in the peace of the Risen Lord!
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