March 5, 2010
The Christian Journey
Would ashes have more impact on First Sunday of Lent?
BY FATHER JIM SAUER
Vatican II restored the double focus of baptism and penance during Lent. However, historians claim that it takes well over 100 years for any Council’s teachings to take root in the lives of God’s people. In other words, these past 40 years are just a beginning of the reconnection of baptism with Lent. A major help has been the introduction of the RCIA rites on the Sundays of Lent — Rite of Sending; First, Second and Third Scrutinies; Presentation of the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer; and the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist during Holy Saturday’s Easter Vigil. To help expose an entire parish to a Lenten baptismal spirituality, moving these Rites to other than the same weekend Mass would be beneficial.
Another idea, which probably will not happen, would be transferring the distribution of ashes from Ash Wednesday to the First Sunday of Lent. This would show a closer connection with the Rite of Sending of our catechumens and candidates to the Rite of Election with the bishop celebrated in the afternoon. Receiving ashes on our foreheads on the First Sunday of Lent when our parishes celebrate the Rite of Sending reminds the faithful that God is the one who chooses all of us to be his Son’s disciples.
Can the Universal Church make such a change? Certainly, if Pope Urban II can order ashes to be distributed for the first time in 1091 on the foreheads of the faithful, the distribution of ashes can be moved to another day if it better clarifies its meaning. The question is — would this change help Catholics develop a deeper baptismal spirituality to their Lenten practices? Distribution of ashes is a church custom, not a divine law. It can be moved to another day if it better expresses the meaning of the season and helps us become more aware of Christ’s call to “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel,” that is, “to die and to rise” in Him.
(An interesting change is occurring in some parishes regarding the custom of blessing throats, usually reserved for the Feast of St. Blaise on February 3. This blessing is being moved to the Sunday nearest to his feast so that more Catholics may receive his blessing. Liturgical changes happen! — sometimes from the grassroots up, sometimes from the top down! The Solemnity of Epiphany in the U.S. was moved from January 6 to the Sunday after January 1 so that more Catholics could participate in this important celebration. The same is true regarding the Solemnity of the Lord’s Ascension now celebrated on the Sunday prior to Pentecost instead of Ascension Thursday.)
Moving Ash Wednesday to the First Sunday of Lent requires the consent of our U.S. bishops and approbation by the Vatican. Would this change make any major difference in our understanding of Lent or in the way we approach fasting, prayer, and almsgiving? Instead of looking at these practices which we “endure” for 40-days, such a change in connection with the Rite of Sending and Election may help us become more conscious where more permanent changes are needed to be more faithful followers of Christ. We do Lenten works of fasting/abstinence, prayer, and charity/almsgiving so that we may rise a little more with Christ in 2010, which culminates in our celebration of the Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday Liturgy. If we do not experience some new life in Christ during Lent in our lives, then the Lord’s resurrection may only have happened 2000 years ago at an empty tomb outside Jerusalem.