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 We began our Lenten journey with a fresh smudge of ashes on our foreheads and good intentions of renewing within us the divine life we received through our baptismal union with Christ. The ashes seem to recall a darker side of ourselves, bringing thoughts not only of weakness and failings but also of our mortality. Heavy material for our meditation and prayer! Seeing this side of ourselves need not be morbid and can actually remind us not only of the reality of sin but of redemptive and healing love.
More than anything else I think the ashes quite simply remind us of our humanity. Some might be tempted to equate our humanity with weakness and a tendency toward evil. But I think most of us would also give special thanks for our humanity which touches the essence of who we are. We certainly are not free-floating spirits somehow imprisoned in a body, a line of Platonic thinking which seemed to draw some of the earlier ascetics and sometimes still colors our thoughts. It is through our humanity that we experience our world and each other. A soothing touch, a warm smile, an embrace, the delight of cold water on a hot day, the satisfying feeling of a good run or pleasant walk all delight us. Of course there are the headaches, the cold or flu making us miserable, the bitter cold or debilitating heat, and the knowledge that sometimes a serious illness or old age are taking our strength and health. But we cannot imagine life without our humanity and we would not want to.
In the Scriptures, we are not seen as separated bodies and souls, somehow brought loosely together. The biblical view is that the word body refers to the whole reality of the human person. We are body-soul.
Many Christians, in practice if not in theory, do not really seem to place much emphasis on the resurrection of the body. They acknowledge Christ’s Resurrection but pass by the essential importance of our own resurrection. This is not just an “add-on” or doctrinal afterthought. We have no other existence as human beings—now or for eternity. Christ did not redeem only a spiritual part of mankind but the whole of our being called to resurrection and eternal life. With this view our vision of ourselves must appreciate the whole of our humanity. It is not the soul which is called to immortality but the whole human person. In Baptism the water flows over the body and the whole person is united to Christ in his death to sin and resurrection to life. Our whole being is joined to Christ and becomes part of the Living Body of Christ.
In our Lenten meditations reflecting on our baptismal union with Christ, we remember too that Christ embraced our humanity with its strengths as well as its weaknesses. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15) By sharing in our humanity, Christ was also able to love with truly human love, reach his hand to touch as he healed, hold the children in his embrace, enjoy the beauty of the sunset and stars, and delight in sharing meals and weddings. In the preparation of the gifts during Mass, as the priest adds the drop of water to the cup of wine, he prays, “By the mystery of this water and wine, may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity.” Lent is a time to celebrate the wonderful exchange and transformation which began in Baptism and is remembered at every Eucharist. The ashes on our forehead also remind us that our humanity is not to be equated simply with weakness and sin but is transformed by the Son of God who himself became human and shares his divine life with us.
Fr. David Foxen, MSC
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