Homily for Ash Wednesday

The theme of returning is prominent in the Ash Wednesday readings, especially in the reading from the Book of Joel: “Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart... Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God.”

However, such a return must be genuine, according to the prophet. It requires the heartfelt acknowledgment of our grief over our separation from God. Simply tearing our exterior garments, a traditional expression of mourning, is not enough.

Scripture also warns against allowing our hearts to grow hard, as happened to many who wandered through the desert with Moses. Their faith and trust eroded in the face of difficult circumstances. The danger to our faith and spiritual lives is that a hardened heart fails to feel its grief, recognize its separation, or experience a desire to return to God.

We should offer a prayer of repentance, as echoed in today’s psalm: “A clean heart create in me, O God; renew in me a steadfast spirit.” Anyone who has experienced separation from a loved one—be it a spouse, family member, or friend—knows how challenging it can be to decide to return to the relationship, to reconcile, and to seek forgiveness for the wrongs that have strained it. “I’m not going to be the one to make the first move,” we often find ourselves saying. And, filled with the pride that has hardened our hearts, we deny ourselves the true treasure of returning: reconciliation.

When God is the loved one, though, the situation is different. With God, there is always an invitation for reconciliation because God’s principal desire is for our love. With boundless grace and mercy, God continually invites us to return to relationship, telling us, “Now is the acceptable time.” God doesn’t want us to wait. “Yet even now,” God says, “return to me with your whole heart.”

In truth, any separation in a relationship provides an opportunity for self-examination, fostering absolute honesty about our intentions when making decisions, and acknowledging our tendency to prioritize our needs above those of others. With hearts open to God, we must ask ourselves, “What aspects of my life and my attitude need to be recreated in line with gospel values?”

For each of us—especially those whose hearts have been hardened by pain, suffering, grief, loss, or deep disappointment—the liturgical year offers a time when we, as a community and as individuals, can reflect on our lives and our hearts and accept God’s loving invitation to be created anew. The symbolism of ashes is especially significant in this process of new creation. The ancient Jewish tradition noted in Scripture regarded ashes as a sign of repentance, a symbol of what once was, now being no more.

Today, with the symbol of ashes prominently displayed on our foreheads, we are visibly reminded that, by returning our hearts to God through repentance and God’s generous forgiveness, we can be reconciled to the God who loves us. So on this Ash Wednesday, as we enter the season of Lent—a period of spiritual recovery through returning and repentance—it is also important to reflect on the words of the prophet Isaiah: “For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: ‘In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and trust shall be your strength.’”