Prayer, Fasting, Almsgiving, and Waiting for God

Homily for Ash Wednesday
Wednesday, 13 February 2013

While some people believe that the culture and society in which we live is “going to hell in a hand basket”, there are some gems and moments of hope out there. And, oddly enough, that includes those finds within the media.

   

       I must admit that I have my particular taste in modern music. Some of the so-called artists out there I choose not to listen to. However, every-so-often, a song comes on the radio that grabs my attention, and – even more rarely – helps me to see the depth of God’s love and presence in our society, and even echoes the crying out to God from the depth of our collective soul.

          Mumford and Sons’ I Will Wait is one of those songs. (If you’ve not heard it, I urge you to listen for it on the radio or check it out on YouTube.) The three verses of the song can help us understand those three Lenten practices we just heard Jesus mention in the Gospel: Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving (or, some would say, “Service”).

          The first verse reads:

                   Well I came home like a stone
                And I fell heavy into your arms
                These days of dust, which we’ve known
                Will blow away with this new sun.

This verse can help us understand “Prayer”. It is in prayer that, especially in this joyful Lenten season, we “come home” to Christ, carrying our sins “like a stone”, falling heavy into the arms of Him Who Loved Us First. These “days of dust”, these days of ashes, these days of Lent need to “blow us away” as we once again come to know Jesus Christ in a more intimate way.

          The second half of the second verse gives a great reference to “Almsgiving”. It reads:

                   Know what we’ve seen and him with less
                Now in some way shake the excess

We are to know and recognize who and what we see in our lives, especially those who are in need, and, out of our compassion, “shake the excess” from our lives, so that others may have a fighting chance. We give alms not because Jesus says we should, but out of our genuine concern for our brothers and sisters. Through the outreach to those who are poor – be it monetarily, physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually – we reach beyond ourselves, and allow ourselves to become, as Saint Teresa of Avila prayed, the Body of Christ enfleshed in our works.

                    So tame my flesh and fix my eyes
                A tethered mind freed from the lies

          These lyrics of the third verse point out to us the great practice of fasting. “Fasting” isn’t just the practice of not eating food in between meals. (Though, in fact, a practice most of us here will be doing today.) When one fasts, it can be from a multitude of things: television, social media, food, gossip, listening to the radio, texting, the use of foul language, etc. The taming of our flesh by those things we fast from, along with the practice of fixing our eyes upon the Cross, allow our minds to be freed from the lies that our society and culture whisper daily in our ears. Fasting allows us to come to know the truth of God’s love through our self-denial of sin’s temptations and those things which distract us from God.

          And, then, we come to the refrain:

                   I will wait for you.

Five small words that can have an enormous impact upon our spiritual life.

          In our sinfulness, we run away from God. In the frantic, hurried-pace frenzy of our society, we run ahead of God. In our selfish pride, we often believe that God is working too slow – or not at all! – in our lives, and, so, we decide to turn away from Him. We – with our own free will – choose not to wait for God. We turn our backs on Him and run away, because we ultimately believe we know better.

          But Lent is that time to stop and wait for the Lord. We choose to stop and wait to see what the Lord has in store for us. In this joyful season, we, by means of our free will, allow the Lord to “catch up” to us, so that we may, once again, walk with Him along the path of faith and of life.

          And so we encounter the Lord, we wait for our God during these forty days while we enter in to the practice of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. It is through this waiting, through these Lenten practices that we continue to experience the depth of the love of God.

          Beginning today, right now, and not for simply forty days, but for each day of our life, we must repent, be faithful to the Gospel, and wait upon the Lord, Who waits for us to turn back to Him.

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Enjoy the journey . . .