In observation of Ash Wednesday, the whole School came together for a service at St Mary’s, led by our School Chaplain, Father Alex. Below is an excerpt from his homily, reminding us all that the true meaning of Lent is not so much about what you give up as it is about what you take up and choose to give back to your community.
Ash Wednesday Homily 2023
How many of us had pancakes at supper last night? Yesterday was Pancake Day as it has become known – or, to give it it’s correct name, Shrove Tuesday.
As I am sure you know, we eat pancakes so that we can use up all the rich and tasty foods in our cupboards before we begin our Lenten Fast so that we are less likely to be tempted to break that fast. But what are we thinking about giving up for our fast? Perhaps chocolate, or coffee, or perhaps the hardest thing of all to live without… Wi-Fi!
Or perhaps as we think on this, we might want to think not about how our Fast might affect us, but how it might affect others. The Prophet Isaiah tells us that the Fast that pleases God in the one that frees the oppressed, the one that feeds the hungry, or the one that gives shelter to the homeless. As we enter this period of Lent, how will our choices affect not just ourselves, but those around us? Perhaps something for us to ponder during our service today, during this season of Lent, and beyond.
I am sure that each of us can think of a time, maybe a number of times, when someone we know or perhaps even care about has done something that has upset us – a time when we have felt wronged in some way. I am also pretty sure that we all know how much that can hurt us – I don’t mean physically hurt, but it still hurts!
When someone is unkind to us, when someone perhaps forgets to ask us how we are feeling or forgets that it our birthday – it hurts. It hurts when things are done to us, and it sometimes also hurts when people do not do things that we wish they would do. To help mend and heal those hurts, one of the best things that can happen is when that person makes the effort to seek us out and say a genuine ‘sorry’ to us. For that ‘sorry’ to really heal the hurt, it needs to include an admission of what was done and some acknowledgement of the hurt it has caused. In short, the apology needs to be genuine and heartfelt. This not only makes us feel better, but very often it can help the other person too.
Today, Ash Wednesday, is a day on which we are encouraged to self-reflect and self-examine. It is a day on which we are encouraged to think about the ways in which we might have hurt those around us and perhaps even hurt God, by our actions and by our lack of action.
A big part of this process is, to use a modern phrase, that we must ‘own what we have got wrong’. We need to acknowledge that we are not perfect (which may be a shock to some of us…) and to accept that we have made mistakes. It can be seen as a form of mindfulness – a means of grounding ourselves in the reality of life, with all its ups and downs.
Despite how it may feel or seem, Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, is not a day of doom and gloom. Yes, we are encouraged to take some time to think on our errors, but we are encouraged to do so knowing that, when we acknowledge them and seek forgiveness, the promise of the Christian faith is that we will be forgiven.
On Ash Wednesday, we have the opportunity to confess our wrongs and to receive the sign of the cross – the sign of God’s victory over sin. The cross, which is marked on our heads in ash, is made from last year’s Palm Crosses used to celebrate the joy of Easter. As we heard in our first reading, Christ submitted to the crucifixion – to death on a cross – so that we might gain salvation and have our sins forgiven by His sacrifice. All we need to do is ‘own it’ – to acknowledge and accept our own shortcomings and accept the great gift of God’s love.
Henry, one of our School Sacristans, also shared his thoughts on the service and what Lent and Easter mean to him. Sacristans work with the Chaplain to organise the chapel and church services, ensuring they run efficiently and are of interest to the pupils.
Whole School services are great for School unity because they bring all year groups and Houses together. They’re an opportunity to join in unison with someone you might not normally sit next to. There was lots of participation in the Ash Wednesday service, which was great to see. Eastertime for me is a chance to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. Moods lift as the early sunsets and harsh winter weather shift into warmer, longer spring days, and that helps make this time of year even more special.
