| "This is the disciple who is bearing witness to these things, and who has written these things; and we know that his testimony is true." John 21:24 |
| "The Post and Courier" March 5, 2006 “Lent a journey to Christian renewal” By Jeffrey Kirby |
Recently, the season of Lent began with the stark observance of Ash Wednesday. In the ceremony, while ashes are placed on the person’s
forehead, he or she is told, “Remember, man, you are dust, and unto dust you shall return.”
To the unexpecting participant, such a ceremony might seem harsh on one hand and morbid on the other. What is the point behind this
ancient Christian custom? What is the purpose behind Lent?
Ash Wednesday starts the season of Lent, which is a time for the Christian community to reflect on difficult topics, such as death. Since
everyone will die, the enduring questions of dying, death and the afterlife continue to provoke curiosity and inquiry. They deserve attention
and some resolution within the person. The conclusions reached on these final questions will shape and help determine the way the person
lives and interacts with life and its occasions of joy and struggle. How does Ash Wednesday and Lent contribute to this search?
Lent points to Easter, the celebration of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ and his victory over sin and death. Without the joy of Easter,
Ash Wednesday and Lent could be truly depressing with their ongoing references to death and dying. With Easter and its authentic assurance
of the Resurrection, however, the Lenten season respects the person’s call to another state after death. Its lessons and customs, such as the
ashes, prayer, fasting and almsgiving, find their meaning within the belief in life after death. The season can offer the willing person several
points for consideration on the questions surrounding the mystery of death and the afterlife.
Death is humanity’s question because it appears to be a contradiction to the life it leads now. It seems to be at odds with humanity’s will to
live. Death relativizes the freedom that the person normally cherishes and protects. Aroused by fear, the person sees dying as a terrible evil. It’
s assumed he or she must permanently let go of everything and everyone.
These are not abstract ideas or emotions. They are very concrete and immanent, because when death is spoken of, the question also includes
my death and what happens to me when I die.
Within the forum of this restlessness and fear, the Christian faith presents the full reality of human existence, during and after this life.
Through Ash Wednesday and Lent, it asserts that death does not simply come at the end of one’s earthly life, but it is something that
accompanies the person through life itself.
Life is a journey, and death is a process. It does not need to be feared. Death doesn’t have to be a haunting grim reaper, but it can be an
amicable companion on the person’s journey of life. Death doesn’t have to be suffered through, it can itself be lived. Dying is a transition, like
childbirth, which only initiates a new phase of life for the person. Death is not an end, nor a final goodbye.
Robert Baker, the local Catholic bishop, in his recent pastoral letter, “The Redemption of Our Bodies,” wrote that the “peculiar event” of each
person’s death is faced “by God’s grace.” It is that grace that Ash Wednesday and Lent provide to the Christian believer.
It is the means through which the Christian faith presents these considerations to the persistent questions on death, dying and the afterlife.
Jeffrey Kirby, a seminarian from the Catholic Diocese of Charleston, is studying in Rome at the Pontifical North American College in Rome.
He can be reached at jkirby@pnac.org.
forehead, he or she is told, “Remember, man, you are dust, and unto dust you shall return.”
To the unexpecting participant, such a ceremony might seem harsh on one hand and morbid on the other. What is the point behind this
ancient Christian custom? What is the purpose behind Lent?
Ash Wednesday starts the season of Lent, which is a time for the Christian community to reflect on difficult topics, such as death. Since
everyone will die, the enduring questions of dying, death and the afterlife continue to provoke curiosity and inquiry. They deserve attention
and some resolution within the person. The conclusions reached on these final questions will shape and help determine the way the person
lives and interacts with life and its occasions of joy and struggle. How does Ash Wednesday and Lent contribute to this search?
Lent points to Easter, the celebration of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ and his victory over sin and death. Without the joy of Easter,
Ash Wednesday and Lent could be truly depressing with their ongoing references to death and dying. With Easter and its authentic assurance
of the Resurrection, however, the Lenten season respects the person’s call to another state after death. Its lessons and customs, such as the
ashes, prayer, fasting and almsgiving, find their meaning within the belief in life after death. The season can offer the willing person several
points for consideration on the questions surrounding the mystery of death and the afterlife.
Death is humanity’s question because it appears to be a contradiction to the life it leads now. It seems to be at odds with humanity’s will to
live. Death relativizes the freedom that the person normally cherishes and protects. Aroused by fear, the person sees dying as a terrible evil. It’
s assumed he or she must permanently let go of everything and everyone.
These are not abstract ideas or emotions. They are very concrete and immanent, because when death is spoken of, the question also includes
my death and what happens to me when I die.
Within the forum of this restlessness and fear, the Christian faith presents the full reality of human existence, during and after this life.
Through Ash Wednesday and Lent, it asserts that death does not simply come at the end of one’s earthly life, but it is something that
accompanies the person through life itself.
Life is a journey, and death is a process. It does not need to be feared. Death doesn’t have to be a haunting grim reaper, but it can be an
amicable companion on the person’s journey of life. Death doesn’t have to be suffered through, it can itself be lived. Dying is a transition, like
childbirth, which only initiates a new phase of life for the person. Death is not an end, nor a final goodbye.
Robert Baker, the local Catholic bishop, in his recent pastoral letter, “The Redemption of Our Bodies,” wrote that the “peculiar event” of each
person’s death is faced “by God’s grace.” It is that grace that Ash Wednesday and Lent provide to the Christian believer.
It is the means through which the Christian faith presents these considerations to the persistent questions on death, dying and the afterlife.
Jeffrey Kirby, a seminarian from the Catholic Diocese of Charleston, is studying in Rome at the Pontifical North American College in Rome.
He can be reached at jkirby@pnac.org.