02/17/2023
Collect for Ash Wednesday
Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Dear Trinity Cathedral family,
As we approach Ash Wednesday this coming week, we remember that the season of Lent is traditionally a season of self-reflection and prayer, of amendment of life, and of sacrifice and self-discipline. The appointed collect for Ash Wednesday from the Book of Common Prayer, along with the appointed Gospel lesson from Matthew and Psalm 51 give us a series of touchstones around which we might frame our own, personal Lenten “rule of life:” New and contrite hearts, lamenting our sins, forgiveness, the giving of alms, prayer, fasting, and humility – placing our treasures where our hearts are also.
Psalm 51, which is said or sung during the imposition of ashes, offers this prayer: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” And in the last verse, “The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit; a broken and contrite heart O God, you will not despise.” This is a lesson in humility as the very basis of everything that we do in our lives. Contrition, having a contrite heart, is the humbling act of being conscious of and sorry for our actions; perhaps the most difficult state of being in our human condition. Jesus makes is abundantly clear in Matthew that humility is pleasing to God: “When you give alms, do not sound the trumpet before you….when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites who stand and pray on the street corners….when you fast, do not look dismal like the hypocrites to show others that they are fasting…do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, but instead treasures in heaven, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
This is never easy, and if I’m honest, I struggle with it every day. Humility takes a genuine effort of the heart and of the ego….to admit exactly who we are and who we are not. To fess up when we’ve wronged others, or to keep silent when our words are vengeful or accusatory and to break that silence when our words must demand justice or amendment of our own lives or the lives of others. So as we receive ashes next week, may we be inspired to walk humbly with our God, in our Church, in the communities, in this nation, in our families, among our friends, in those times when it is most difficult or even seems impossible; may we humbly confess that we have sinned in thought, word, and deed, but then turn right around and walk in a new direction, with new and contrite hearts, proclaiming God’s love and forgiveness, not only for ourselves, but for those who may be against us. Amen.
Canon Jason Roberson
