Homily on Ash Wednesday
St. John Paul II Parish, Cedar Springs, Michigan
Mary Queen of Apostles Parish, Sand Lake, Michigan
Father Lam T. Le, Pastor
March 5, 2025
“[God] blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living
being”
(Gn 2:7)
On Ash Wednesday, the Church commences Lent, forty days of fasting, praying,
and almsgiving as a remedy for our sins. Of course, on this day we participate in
liturgy with ashes being placed on our heads.
What is the meaning of this ritual? The answer is in the exhortations which the
priest says when he places ashes on your head. In fact, the Roman Missal, Third
Edition provides two options that the priest can choose: “Repent, and believe in
the Gospel,” or “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Let
us start our reflection with the second and return to the first.
Recall how God created humanity in Genesis, the first book of the Bible: “Then
the LORD God formed the man out of the dust of the ground and blew into his
nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Gn 2:7). Without
the breath of life from God, there is simply dust of the ground. When we commit
sin, we reject this breath of life in us. No wonder after our first parents disobeyed
God and ate “fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden” (Gn. 3:3), God said
to the man: “By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread, until you return to
the ground, from which you were taken; For you are dust, and to dust you shall
return” (Gn 3:19). Taking all of this together, placing ashes on our head today is
a reminder for us: without God blowing his breath of life into our nostrils, you and
I are simply dusts or ashes. Without opening to this breath of life, you and I might
be walking around this earth, but spiritually we are dead! Anointing our face
with ashes then must be an outward expression of an inward journey: turn from
disobedience to the Lord and be faithful to the values of the Kingdom. This then
is the reason why “Repent, and believe in the Gospel” (cf. Mt 1:15) is another
optional exhortation for the priest to use when he places ashes on the people.
“Repent” means turn thing upside down or a 180-degree-turn from the world of
sins to believe in God or obey the Gospel.
During this Lent, let us make sure that the breath of life is blowing into our hearts
and the souls of our brothers and sisters. I invite you all to our first missional
prayer activity this Friday, March 7. What is it? On this day all parishioners and
friends of the parish are called to fast and come to the Holy Hour in church from
6:00-7:00pm. We fast and pray for a member of the parish/our family/or any
individual that God put into our life. We pray for a transformative encounter with
the Holy Spirit for this person. One can only imagine the change in our parish if
all the households participate in this. May this Lent 2025 will be the time for us to
clear out our nostrils for the breath of life coming from the Lord!
Scriptural Readings: Reading 1 Jl 2:12-18; Responsorial Psalm Ps 51:3-4, 5-6ab,
12-13, 14 and 17; Reading 2 2 Cor 5:20—6:2; Verse Before the Gospel See Ps
95:8; Gospel Mt 6:1-6, 16-18