Ash Wednesday Reflection
Good Morning Notre Dame! Today, Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, a season of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. To many of you, this is the time of the year when you give up something for 40 days. Often, the mindset is that Lent is a test on how long we can survive, really, from something we do not really need. So, I am curious to know what some of you may have decided to give up. (Responses from the assembly) So, now I pose to you this question, can you grow as a person of faith and spirituality when you move away from that? Do you become more rooted in what is truly important to you? I am sorry to say that setting yourself to not use MySpace every night, but instead use that time to watch TV is not embracing the spirit and invitation of Lent. Furthermore, 40 days does not mean “make it through 40 days without junk food and soda, and go back to that habit. The essence Lent is being connected to what is truly important to your life- allowing whatever it is, a relationship or a spending of time allocation, to make you a better person. In order to grow from this engagement of bettering ourselves, we need to commit ourselves to allow this change to become part of our daily lives, practice it after the 40 days of Lent!
Whether you are Christian or not, I invite all of you to take partake in this Lenten journey. This time is an opportunity that was can embrace - through simplicity and being connected with others we center our lives to what is important and cleanse our hearts of those things that burden us. So, I do invite you to be part of this changing time, we can restore ourselves by looking deep within and finding what we are rooted in. It may be easier to think of it in a three-step process, and we will use Wall-E as an example of one on this Lenten journey.
The first step, prayer - Wall-E, believe it or not, may perhaps had been in a prayerful mood in that clip you saw we began this prayer service. (I hope you have learned that prayer can take place in all shapes and sizes). So, Wall-E, in that vast land of garbage and desolation is similar to that of Jesus in the desert. In solitude, Wall-E is just doing what he was made to do, gather garbage and stick it in his contraption. But as we saw, Wall-E would at times take something, analyze it, and think to himself and not aloud because apparently we don’t know if we can, but he would think, “Hmmm, what is this? Can I use this?” So, if you were embracing Wall-E’s style of prayer, you would take a look at some aspects in your life and ask, “Hmmm, what is this? Is this important to me?” Perhaps family is that aspect you are looking at then is it important? And if it is, are you going to add it to your Wall-E collection and take care of it? Or throw it back in the pile of garbage? Prayer allows us to take some time and reflect. Sometimes I think of it as freezing time my life and take some time to look around. Am I surrounded by things and people that I need and do they parallel to my values? So, take the opportunity to pray because it does not mean, getting down on your knees and talking to yourself, it means, taking a breath and speaking to your heart.
The second step - Fasting. For Wall-E, fasting began when he fell in love with Eve. His “heart” probably stopped beating, flip-flopped and set it self to “love Eve unconditionally” mode. The primo scene I think of Wall-E’s love is when Eve was set to sleep mode and Wall-E takes care of her all through those seasons. In that scene, Wall-E devotes what seems to be an entire year of taking care of Eve because when it was raining, Wall-E shaded her with an umbrella as he got struck by lightening, covered her under a garbage can so she would not be covered by snow, and during Christmas time, he decorated her with colorful lights and took her to see the sunset. Even though he knew that Eve was not awake to see or feel what he was doing for her, he did it because he cared for her. Wall-E, when he realized what was important to him, which was determined by the honesty of his heart, abandoned the things that did not allow him to become connected to Eve. For us, fasting asks us to stray away from the activities and things that disconnect us from life. When you fast, you have recognized a vice that has not allowed you to grow to be the person you would like to be. To fast is a difficult stage because you let go of something that is so tempting to have or do. On the other hand, you should tap yourself in the back because you have recognized what was wrong and in that acknowledgment, you have begun a change in your heart and mind. Clearly, if you have recognized it to be something that burdens you or hurts others, then there is a need to change. Fasting asks you to stray away from excessiveness, from bad habits, from disconnecting yourselves from what allows you to live a quality life. It does not mean, give up something, it means answering, “what do you need to do to become a better person living a quality life?” then “do” the answer!
The final and most rewarding part of this Lenten journey is almsgiving. I think we can agree hands-down that Wall-E epitomizes the idea of giving of yourself and giving what you can to others. Remember when Wall-E gives the plant to Eve? (Take the plant) Symbolically, the plant is representative of Wall-E’s heart…he gives his heart to Eve! So, what can we give after realizing what is important to us and finding ways to act on that? For Wall-E, again he realized that Eve was the most important thing in his life and in realizing that, he gives what he can to her so as to make her happy. It does not stop there, he continues to give to the people on the ship, takes care of the plant, creates life in what seemed to be a dead planet. Just like Wall-E, we are invited to give to ourselves, to other people, and the community around us. Almsgiving is the culmination of prayer and fasting because really what you do is, give thanks to what you realize that you are so lucky to have and offer love to whomever you help. And it is fasting because you are giving of yourself and your love. I like to think of it as an embracement of what it is you have chosen to become more focused on, and then you radiate that same value…hence your give to yourself because you are restored to fully living and allowing others to receive that same gift. Instead of texting a friend, you set up a date with them - a better connection I think. And who knows, because they realized how much more fun and connecting it was, they too may want to continue that same giving of time and of their presence.
Lent is the journey that allows us to discover, take action, and practice the quality of life. Often we determine the value of our lives based on how much we have, the quantity of things…we get lost in that big pile of garbage and unnecessary material that we too lose ourselves. Lent through prayer, fasting and almsgiving allow us to dig into our lives and identify the roots. Those roots are what allow you to live life fully, those values that make you the person you want to become, and the people that love for you the most. It may be hard and time consuming because our roots grow deep, but in this Lenten season we are nourish ourselves. So, ultimately, this plant is not only our heart but also it is each of us. Are we rooted? Are growing? And are we giving?