ASH WEDNESDAY

The Very Rev. Anthony R. Pompa

IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY IN LONDON ONE WILL FIND A PAINTING OF THE REVOLUTIONARY ARTIST MICHAELANGELO MERISI, LATER KNOWN AS CARAVAGGIO, HAVING TAKEN ON THE NAME OF HIS BIRTHPLACE, A SMALL TOWN IN NORTHERN ITALY. THE PAINTING I REFER TO IS A DEPICTION OF ST. LUKE’S ACCOUNT OF THE ROAD TO EMMAUS STORY. YOU’LL REMEMBER THE STORY OF THE RISEN JESUS ENCOUNTERING TWO BROKEN-HEARTED FOLLOWERS WHO BELIEVED THE HOPES OF ISRAEL DASHED HAVING JUST WITNESSED JESUS’ CRUCIFIXION. THE TWO FOLLOWERS OF JESUS, NOT RECOGNIZING HIM IN THE MOMENT, SOON FIND THEMSELVES BREAKING BREAD WITH THIS “STRANGER ON THE ROAD” AND AS THEY DO, THEIR EYES ARE OPENED AND THEIR HEARTS BURN AGAIN, HAVING ENCOUNTERED NOW THE RISEN JESUS AND THE HOPE RENEWED FOR LIVES OF FREEDOM!

IN HIS PORTRAYAL OF THIS STORY CARAVAGGIO DEPICTS THE FOLLOWERS OF JESUS’ TIME IN THE FACES OF CONTEMPORARIES OF HIS. IN THE DEPICTION ONE CAN LOCATE A LARGE SCALLOP SHELL ON THE LAPEL OF ONE OF THE MEN WITNESSING THE RISEN JESUS. THE SCALLOP SHELL, OF COURSE, WAS WORN BY PILGRIMS IN CARRAVAGIO’S TIME AS A SIGN OR MARK, A SYMBOL OF BAPTISM TO BE RECOGNIZED BY OTHER PILGRIMS SO THAT THEIR JOURNEY TO DISCOVER A PLACE OF HOLINESS AND FREEDOM MIGHT BE RECOGNIZED, SUPPORTED, AND EVEN JOINED!

THE SCRIPTURES TELL US ON SUCH DAYS AS THIS, ASH WEDNESDAY, TO REND OUR HEARTS AND NOT OUR GARMENTS, A REMINDER FOR US TO CUT TO THE HEART OF THE MATTER. ON SUCH A DAY AS THIS, THE HEART OF THE MATTER IS WE BEGIN A LENTEN JOURNEY TO RE-CONNECT WITH OURSELVES, ONE ANOTHER, AND THE ONE WHO MADE US BY DARING TO EMBARK ON A PILGRIMAGE THAT WILL NECESSARILY LEAD US THROUGH DEATH, TO LIFE! WE, LIKE THOSE DEPICTED IN CARAVAGGIO’S BEAUTIFUL PAINTING, ARE ON A PILGRIM’S WAY!

MARCUS BORG, NEW TESTAMENT SCHOLAR, REMINDS US THAT LENT IS ESSENTIALLY A PILGRIM’S WAY! A WAY OF FOLLOWING THE PATH FROM DEATH TO LIFE! THAT WAY IS DISOVERED BY FOLLOWING JESUS! FOR THE NEXT FORTY DAYS WE WILL INTIMATELY STEP WITH JESUS. THROUGH STORY AND SONG, HEART AND PRAYER, WE WILL JOURNEY WITH JESUS FROM GALILEE TO JERUSALEM…FROM LIFE, MINISTRY, HEALING AND HOPE…TO THE SHADOW OF THE CROSS, THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE GIVEN IN PAIN AND SUFFERING, AND FINALLY TO AN EMPTY TOMB WHERE PARADOXICALLY, ITS EMPTINESS LEADS TO OUR FULLNESS OF NEW LIFE!

WE WILL FOLLOW JESUS, WE WILL PARTICIPATE IN HIS FINAL JOURNEY….A JOURNEY OF DEATH AND RESURRECTION. “LENT IS ABOUT DYING AND RISING,” MARCUS BORG REMINDS US, ABOUT “MORTALITY AND TRANSFORMATION”!

NOW I REALIZE THAT THESE ARE WORDS YOU MIGHT EXPECT TO HEAR FROM THE PREACHER, WORDS THAT ARE SOUND THEOLOGICALLY, ALMOST POETIC, CERTAINLY CHURCHY, BUT WHAT DO THEY MEAN FOR YOU, FOR US?

I ONCE DEVELOPED A PRAYERFUL RELATIONSHIP WITH A YOUNG WOMAN WHO WAS SEARCHING FOR SOME CONNECTION IN HER LIFE. WE BEGAN A LONG DISTANCE LETTER WRITING RELATIONSHIP. HER SEARCHING AND SEEKING TAPPED INTO MY OWN SPIRITUAL JOURNEY. I CAN REMEMBER SAYING SUCH WORDS TO HER AS, “TO FIND YOUR LIFE YOU MUST LOSE IT.” SHE, IN HER CANDOR AND HONESTY, SAID, “I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU MEAN!”

SO IF WE SAY LENT IS A PATH TO DEATH, THEN WE SAY WE MUST DIE TO BE BORN AGAIN! WHAT IN GOD’S NAME DOES THAT MEAN?

PERHAPS WHAT I RECOGNIZED IN THAT YOUNG WOMAN AND IN MYSELF IS A TRUE DYNAMIC OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT, A MATTER OF THE HEART AS IT WERE. WE ALL STRUGGLE WITH THE UNCERTAINTY OF WHAT LIFE PRESENTS US AND WHAT MAY BE BEFORE US. THIS PARTICULAR YOUNG WOMAN SET OFF ON A PILGRIMAGE THAT WOULD LEAD HER THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH: A LOSS OF A YOUNGER SISTER, THE DEATH OF HER MOTHER, THE UNCERTAINTY OF WHAT WAS NEXT IN HER PROFESSIONAL LIFE. IN HER PILGRIMAGE SHE ARTICULATED A TRUTH FOR ALL OF US, THAT ON HER PILGRIMAGE SHE DEMONSTRATED SHE COULD BEAR THE MYSTERIES OF DEATH SHE ENCOUNTERED IN THE VALLEY, BUT SHE COULD NOT BEAR HER LIFE WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING IT, FINDING ITS MEANING, AND LIVING WITHOUT THE HOPE OF NEW LIFE ON THE OTHER END OF IT.

LENT IS OUR JOURNEY TO DISCOVER MEANING! MEANING OF A GOD WHO HAS PURPOSE FOR US. WHO CREATED US OUT OF DUST, BREATHED LIFE INTO US, AND NOW CALLS US ON A PILGRIM’S WAY TO EXPERIENCE DEATH AND NEW LIFE…MEANING IN OUR LIVES!
TONIGHT (TODAY) YOU WILL BE MARKED (IF YOU CHOOSE) WITH ASHES IN THE SIGN OF THE CROSS. ESSENTIALLY, YOU WILL BE REMINDED OF YOUR MORTALITY. NO, IN FACT, YOU WILL BE “MARKED FOR DEATH.” IN THE MARKING, HOWEVER, YOU ARE GIVEN THE SIGN OR SYMBOL TO BE ON YOUR PILGRIMAGE, THE PILGRIMAGE TO DISCOVER THAT REALLY, THE MARK IS YOUR GIFT TO FREEDOM. TO FOLLOW JESUS IS TO UNDERSTAND THAT THINGS MUST DIE TO GIVE WAY TO THAT WHICH IS NEW!

SO ON THE PILGRIMAGE WAY THIS LENT, ASK YOURSELF PERHAPS THESE QUESTIONS: WHAT NEEDS TO DIE? WHAT DEATH NEEDS TO OCCUR TO TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE?

MARCUS BORG OFFERS THESE QUESTIONS AND REFLECTIONS FOR OUR JOURNEY: “WHAT BEHAVIOR THAT HAS BECOME DESTRUCTIVE OR DYSFUNCTIONAL IN YOUR LIFE MUST DIE? WHAT RELATIONSHIP THAT HAS GONE BAD MUST CHANGE, OR DIE, WHAT UNRESOLVED GRIEF MUST DIE? WHAT STAGE OF LIFE MUST YOU PASS THROUGH AND DIE TO LIVE? PERHAPS IT IS SELF-PREOCCUPATION ITSELF THAT MUST DIE, OR IS THERE A DEADNESS IN YOUR LIFE THAT ITSELF MUST DIE FOR YOU TO LIVE?

OUR JOURNEY BEGINS THESE FORTY DAYS AND FORTY NIGHTS. WE JOIN JESUS ON A PILGRIM’S WAY, MARKED FOR DEATH AND EXPECTING NEW LIFE!