Ash Wednesday 2008 at St. Elizabeth's

We had a large turnout for our Ash Wednesday Liturgy tonight. It was so gratifying to see the church almost filled. Our people came together as a family ready to begin their Lenten Journey.

We were reminded that Ash Wednesday is the only time that the Church tells us that we are going to die. Those ashes placed in the form of a cross on our foreheads, tell us that only through the purification of death will we meet God.

The readings tonight had many things to say to us about God's loving concern for us. In the Joel reading, we learn that God willingly and patiently waits for us. He wants us to come back to Him.

Even though we may think we can live without God, we learn that God cannot live without us, His most precious creation. He continually invites us to come and be part of His family.

Thus, we gathered today to repent and be converted again. We must become holy for the sake of others, so that we can be a model for them as we bring them back into God's family.

We ask God to create in us a clean heart; and to renew a steadfast spirit within us so that we can proclaim His praises for all He has done for us.

Our journey through Lent requires three weapons. The first is prayer, which prepares us to meet Christ. The second is fasting; especially, by not seeming to fast. God doesn't want us to appear to others to be fasting because then we will have already received our reward. The third weapon is almsgiving, where we help others materially or spiritually. But we are again reminded not to let our left hand know what our right hand is doing.

The most important thing about prayer, fasting and almsgiving is God's wish that we do these things in secret. Only then can God Himself be the one who will repay us.

As Matthew says at the close of this Gospel reading, "...your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you." And God's payment will surely be, eternal life with Him forever.