Ash Wednesday, As Simple As It Gets In This Complicated World

My Ash Wednesday homily this year used the traditional texts of Matthew and Isaiah to remind people that the ashes they wear on their foreheads are meant not as external beacons signaling religious belonging to others, but as a gut check on motive. Are you here for you—or for them?

Here is on earth as much as in church on a Wednesday night.

Are you living the life you have been called to live? Or are you pretending for appearances?

You is, for Christians, as something bigger; someone bigger—part of the body of Christ.

Big ideas of salvation and purpose not to mention mortality are hard to get at in a short time. So, I told the story of Julio Diaz, a social worker in the Bronx. He summed up his experience with a teenager who tried to rob him and with a lesson he tries to live, “I figure you treat people right you can only hope they will treat you right in return. That’s as simple as it gets in this complicated world.” That summary may not work for every person of faith…but it works for many who are looking for simple ways to live in a complicated time.