Why do you do that?!

Dear Readers, sorry again for my forced hiatus. It is good to be back up and running. Since tomorrow is Ash Wednesday and the first day of Lent I thought this post should be about Lent and why (following the Catholic Tradition) we celebrate this season and why we begin it with Ash Wednesday. As I contemplated these questions I came once again to that helpful phrase:

Lex Orandi Lex Credendi (The rule of prayer is the rule of belief)

What better way to explain the season and the day than to begin with what the Book of Common Prayer itself says in its "Invitation to a Holy Lent." Consider,

"Dear People of God: The first Christians observed with great devotion the days of our Lord's passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of the Church to prepare for them by a season of penitence and fasting. This season of Lent provided a time in which converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism. It was also a time when those who, because of notorious sins, had been separated from the body of the faithful were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to the fellowship of the Church. Thereby, the whole congregation was put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set forth in the Gospel of our Savior, and of the need which all Christians continually have to renew their repentance and faith.

I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self- examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word. And, to make a right beginning of repentance, and as a mark of our mortal nature, let us now kneel before the Lord, our maker and redeemer.

Lent is primarily about preparation. Preparing our hearts and minds for the celebration of Easter. It is a season of preparation for those about to be baptized. It is a season of reconciliation for those who have been in broken communion with the Church to repent and be restored. And, as the invitation says, the way we do all of these things is through self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, self-denial and studying the Scriptures.

As the final sentence of the invitations states: Ash Wednesday as it is commonly called is the Church's gift to the believer to help her start out on the right foot. Just as a Ranger might point you down the correct path to reach the mountain you are hiking toward, the Church helpfully starts us on the right foot down this path of self-reflection, repentance, prayer and fasting. And the beginning act is a reminder, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." This is the perspective that motivates all our Lenten preparations. Not unlike the season of Advent, we are reminded that we are not only preparing to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus at Easter, but we are also preparing to greet the day when we too will be resurrected with him, to stand before him as he sits on his throne of judgment.