5 MARCH, ASH WEDNESDAY

Joel 2, 12-18

Psalm 50, 3-4, 5-6ab, 12-13, 14.17

2 Corinthians 5, 20 – 6, 2

Matthew 6,1-6.16-18

« the FAST that I -the Lord- choose » (Is 58, 6)

1. Today, Ash Wednesday, dear brothers and sisters, we begin the season of Lent. As every year, we listen to the Word of God, which invites us to live this time of salvation with intensity. Indeed, we hear the apostle Paul say, quoting the prophet Isaiah (Is 49, 8) : “Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
2. This Lenten season, lived in the context of the Jubilee, is a special opportunity to experience the grace of salvation. We would like to invite and exhort you to live this Lent, and this series of videos, as a journey of faith, as a pilgrimage. Indeed, again I say: “Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” Because the Jubilee is a time of joy, celebration and salvation. It’s the experience of being forgiven and of receiving Mercy: “Now is a very acceptable time!”
3. And that’s exactly what happens with Jesus. I propose you a little exercise: can you remember a character in one of the gospels in a moment of particular joy? Can you remember the reason for his/her joy? I remember, for example, two people: Zacchaeus and the Samaritan woman. But I know for sure that there are many others. And why did they rejoice, and what made them jump for joy? Both had experienced forgiveness, both felt loved and understood by Jesus. In short, God’s mercy.
4. Zacchaeus the Tax Collector, Luc 19, 1-10, discovers that Jesus wants to enter his house, to eat with him, he even says that salvation has entered his house… and that’s when Zacchaeus surrenders to Jesus and explodes with joy. He feels forgiven and loved.
5. The Samaritan woman, John 4:1-31, is a woman looking to be loved… she even had had five “husbands”… but it’s when she meets Jesus who seems to know her secrets, when she seems to feel that her thirst for love has been quenched… in her joy and amazement, she leaves everything behind and runs to tell her neighbors about Jesus.
6. Both of them, and so many others who meet Jesus, feel forgiven, reconciled, understood… so much so that they are able to change their lives. They have lived Lent. We can say they have “lived the Jubilee”. They have experienced Forgiveness and Reconciliation.
7. That’s why I’m asking you never to think of Lent as a sad time. On the contrary! It’s an intense time, a time of celebration: it’s the feast of forgiveness.
8. Today, with Lent, we begin a time to go to your inner room, to your heart. To the secret of our heart. If we’re able to do this exercise, which is by no means easy, we’ll be able to discover that there, as Jesus tells us, “your Father is in that secret place”, in your heart. Yes, indeed, your Father is in your heart and sees what happens in your heart. Would you like to experience it? Jesus tells us how, and so does the prophet Joel. You’ll have to get rid of superficiality in order to find God.
9. Today we start a time for prayer, almsgiving and fasting. Ash Wednesday is a day of fasting. Allow me to say a few words about fasting. That’s what I’m going to ask you to do on this day: fasting. But to fast the way God proposes us to. Right, as the prophet Joel tells us to do, I’ll explain.
10. In some countries, such as Ivory Coast, fasting means not eating all day long until the afternoon/evening. In other countries, fasting means having only one meal a day, at midday for example, as in my case. I fast with a midday meal but nothing in the evening. This is what the Church asks us to do.
11. But today, I invite you to a different kind of fast. Indeed, Joel says: “let your hearts be broken, not your garments torn, turn to the Lord your God again, for he is all tenderness and compassion.” “Let your heart be broken” in order to “turn to the Lord”. Think about it, what keeps you from turning to God? What keeps you away from the Lord? And likewise, what keeps you from loving your neighbor? What keeps you from turning to your neighbor? That’s what you need to tear apart! That’s exactly what you need to fast from! Behaviors, actions, words, attitudes, thoughts that keep you away from God, or from your neighbor! That’s what you have to fast from today and throughout this Lenten season! Take heart! And thank you very much! “Your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.”
12. May the Merciful God bless you.