Lent, Fragility and Hope

Yes, this is a longer than usual blog. I personally believe it is worth sharing due to the significance of Lent. I pray you find it valuable as you read it.

We are entering the Lenten Season this week. Ash Wednesday is a couple of days away. A time when I, as a Catholic, begin some form of fasting, Lenten reflection, and journaling in addition to specific prayers.

I thought I would use Pope Francis’ message from March 5, 2025. while he was still hospitalized in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital. Cardinal Angelo Donati read it.

Below are my thoughts from some points from the message.

It begins: “This evening we receive the imposition of the holy ashes. This brings to mind the memory of what we are, but also the hope of what will be…”

I think of the words said by the priest as we receive the ashes, “remember you are dust and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19) and I realize that at some point it became an automatic response to say, “Amen,” and then go about my day.  I did not give any more thought to my Catholic responsibility. At least not until the l980’s when I really began a deeper dive into theology.

It was not until I began to do my self-study in theology did, I learn that ashes were used in the Old Testament:

·         Sign of Repentance

·         Prayer and fasting

·         Expression in humility

*Humility which moves God to show mercy.

I will write more on Ashes in my blog on February 18^th,

Pope Francis continues: “Thus the Lenten journey towards Easter unfolds amidst the remembrance of our fragility and the hope that, at the end of the road, the Risen Lord is waiting for us.” “Thus, the Lenten journey towards Easter unfolds amidst the remembrance of our fragility and the hope that, at the end of the road, the Risen Lord is waiting for us.”

It is also a reminder of our mortality. We are here, on earth, for a limited time. We do not know how long but it would be beneficial for us to remember this often, if not daily. It should encourage us to always do good for all for as long as possible.

It is also a reminder of conversion. Ash Wednesday and Lent, hopefully, can be a time for authentic reflection if we take the time to think about the past year. For example, how have I allowed myself to be changed in ways that are unhealthy to my mind, body, and spirit? Did I move my moral compass to make me feel better? Did I surrender some values because it was easier to give in to the voices of others. Or did I surrender one or more values because they were never important to me.

“Lent, however, is also an invitation to rekindle our hope. Although we receive the ashes with our heads bowed in remembrance of who we are, the Lenten season does not end there. On the contrary, we are invited to lift our eyes to the One who rises from the depths of death and brings us from the ashes of sin and death to the glory of eternal life.”

I understand how difficult it may be for some or many to keep hope in the current environment. This is a global feeling, not just in the USA. If this is true for you, make sure you take time daily, at least twice a day, to turn off the noise and recharge. It can be taking a 15-minute walk outside without your cell phone or listening to something inspiration for that period. It can be reading a chapter in a book. Darn, it can even be washing your face with cold water as a symbol of removing the grime of the noise. There is nothing like sudden splash of cold water on your face to reawaken your senses.

I will leave you with this:

This, brothers and sisters, is the hope that restores to life the “ashes” of our lives. Without such hope, we are doomed passively to endure the fragility of our human condition. Particularly when faced with the experience of death, a lack of hope can lead us to fall into sadness and desolation, and we end up reasoning like fools: “Short and sorrowful is our life, and there is no remedy when a life comes to its end [...] the body will turn to ashes, and the spirit will dissolve like empty air” (Wis 2:1-3). Yet the hope of Easter that we journey towards reassures us of God’s forgiveness. Even while submerged in the ashes of sin, hope opens us up to the joyful acknowledgment of life: “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth” (Job 19:25). Let us remember this: “Man is dust and to dust he shall return, but dust is precious in God’s eyes because God created man, destining him to immortality” (Benedict XVI, General Audience, 17 February 2010).

Let us persevere in the certainty that ever since the Lord took upon himself the ashes of humanity, “the history of the earth is the history of heaven. God and man are bound together in a single destiny” (C. Carretto, Il deserto nella città, Roma 1986, 55), and he will forever sweep away the ashes of death and make us shine with newness of life.

With this hope in our hearts, let us begin our journey. Let us be reconciled with God.

https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/homilies/2025/documents/20250305-omelia-ceneri.html

NOTE: We will be offering a free webinar on March 27, 2026, at 1 p.m. (Mountain Time) on Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. You can get more information here: Three Self-Emptying Days.