3/6/2014 – Thursday after Ash Wednesday – Luke 9:22 - 25

     The churches were crowded yesterday for Ash Wednesday.  Even a lot of Protestant churches who usually don’t make a big deal about Lent and about Ash Wednesday are starting to establish traditions for this holy season.  (And I can say that honestly having grown up Protestant myself – in the Methodist Church and in the United Church of Christ.)  Yet, it is not about getting that smudge of ash on our foreheads in public that matters.  It is about what we do about our Lenten journey, how we meet God in that reality. I had six different masses for Ash Wednesday observances, one all the way up in Iuka (about an hour and fifteen minute ride up the Natchez Trace from Tupelo) where they would not have had a priest had I not volunteered to come, and I certainly enjoyed being there with such a wonderful and welcoming group of people.  The Catholic faithful are really wanting to make something of their Lenten journey, to have it influence their overall journey of faith. Jesus tells us today in the Gospel to deny ourselves and take up our cross if we want to follow him.  We gave out these little magnifying glasses yesterday as a symbol and reminder of how we are to seek God in all things in our lives.  In the egoism and narcissism of our modern world, many wouldn’t think that they would find fulfillment or salvation in denying themselves and taking up a cross, but that is what exactly Jesus wants us to do.  That is one of the place we are to seek God.  So, as we start our Lenten journey this week, let’s really think about where we are to seek God on our Lenten journey.  And let us try to recognize the cross that we are called to carry as a part of our Lenten as well. Some of what we will find might surprise us.

     

        As I was writing this homily, I saw a cross on the wall that someone had given me.  It is a rough wooden cross, but embedded in it are dozens of this little metal “Milagros” or “miracles” that represent healing that people have had.  In the Hispanic culture, if someone experiences a healing or an answered prayer from God, he leaves one of the Milagros at the shrine where the prayer was placed.  It thought about how sometimes our crosses bring healings or answered prayers.  Something to think about.