Matthew’s gospel today,
warns us to pray in private, to give alms in private, to fast in private. It’s
very ironic then that we are gathered here today in a public place of worship
to get our foreheads marked with ashes for the entire world to see. It seems
that Matthew doesn’t want us showing the world that we are fasting, praying,
giving alms, yet we will leave here today with ashes on our foreheads, for all
of us to see[1].
What are we to
make of this admonition to pray, fast, and give alms in private?
Lent is a time
to grow closer to the Lord Jesus. It’s a time for deepening our prayer,
intensifying our support of the body of Christ, and growing closer to the Jesus
who hears all of our prayers.
We will grow
closer to the Lord by praying the most intimate, deep down prayers that we
have. These prayers that we share with the Lord in privacy tend to be the
prayers that are closest to our hearts. We are not tempted to shout these
prayers out on the street corner because they are prayers between ourselves and
God. These are our most intimate prayers, and this sharing of our most intimate
prayer with God will bring us closer to our Lord Jesus.
It’s like with
any close friend we have, when we trust this person with most intimate fears,
hopes, dreams, and weaknesses, we will grow closer to that person. The same
thing happens with Jesus when we share these intimate private prayers with him
in the security of our own private room. What are your deepest, most intimate
concerns? What keeps you up at night or worried during the day? Bring them
today in the privacy of your own heart here before the Lord.
But we are not
in a private place right now. We are sitting in a public place of worship.
Perhaps we take this chance to learn a little bit about the Church as the
people of God. The Church, as a group of people in Christ, is the place where
we can safely share these intimate prayers. This is what Church means for us
today–a place where we come together as God’s people willing to bring our private
prayers together and place them before each other and the Lord. It’s a
tremendous act of trust to belong to such a body as this Church. We all come to
this place because we will not be judged on the basis of our most secret and
most profound prayer. We trust that all here have such prayers, and we draw
strength from the courage of one another to be here in public, praying to God
with our most private affairs.
And so we come
together today, though we are signed outwardly with marks of ashes, with our
hearts are full of the prayers that are most important to us. We come together
as the body of Christ trusting in one another and in the Lord as we make our Lenten
journey following Christ ■
[1] Wednesday 13th
February, 2013, Ash Wednesday. DAY OF
FAST AND ABSTINENCE. Readings: Joel 2:12-18. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned—Ps 50(51):3-6, 12-14, 17. 2 Corinthians 5:20 – 6:2. Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18.
