“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).
Christians all over the world have begun the Season of Lent, the forty days of spiritual journey in preparation for the Feast of Easter. The forty days of Lent follow the biblical example of Jesus Christ, who fasted for forty days and forty nights in preparation for his public ministry, which culminated in his passion, death and resurrection at Easter.It also calls to mind the forty days that Moses fasted in response to the erection of the Golden Calf by the Israelites in the desert. The Lenten season begins with Ash Wednesday, the day on which Christians receive ashes (made from the palm fronds used on Palm Sunday the previous year) on their foreheads as a sign of repentance. The ashes are imposed on the foreheads of the faithful with the biblical formula, “Remember O Man that you are dust and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19; Ecclesiastes 3:20). Another formula which is also used is, “Repent, and believe the Gospel” (Mark 1:15).
Ashes were used in ancient times to express mourning. Dusting oneself with ashes was the penitent’s way of expressing sorrow for sins. An ancient example of someone expressing penitence is found in Job 42:3-6. “I spoke of things I did not understand… My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I retract all I have said, and in dust and ashes I repent.” The Prophet Jeremiah, for instance, calls for repentance this way: “O daughter of my people, gird on sackcloth and roll in ashes” (Jeremiah 6:26). The Prophet Daniel recounts his pleas to God this way: “I turned to the Lord God, pleading in earnest prayer, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes” (Daniel 9:3). Just before the New Testament period, the Maccabees fighting for Jewish independence prepared for battle using ashes: “That day they fasted and wore sackcloth; they sprinkled ashes on their heads and tore their clothes” (1 Maccabees 3:47).
Following the example of the people of Nineveh who did penance in sackcloth and ashes, (Jonah 3:1-6) the imposition of ashes on the foreheads of the Christian faithful is to evoke humility of heart, with the reminder that we are mortal beings, and that we will all die one day.While the ashes symbolize penance and contrition, they are also a reminder that God is gracious and merciful to those who call on Him with repentant hearts. During Lent, Christians undertake three traditional bodily and spiritual disciplines: prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Christians carry out these acts of penance in atonement for their sins, and as a way of identifying with Jesus in the sufferings he underwent on the way to Calvary for love of us.
In Joel 2:12-18, the prophet issues a call to the people of Israel, and to us today, to return to the Lord our God with all our hearts, with fasting, weeping and mourning. We are to fast in atonement for our sins. We are to weep to show contrition for the evils we have done. We are to mourn to show remorse for our offenses against the love of God and neighbour. The prophet says that no one should be exempted from this call to repentance. Everyone is involved: “Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Sanctify the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber. Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep and say, ‘Spare your people, O Lord, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nation” (Joel 2:15-17).
Lent, therefore, calls to mind the urgency of Christian repentance. This call to repentance is at the heart of all the Christian observances of Lent. St Paul makes this strong appeal in his second Letter to the Corinthians, where he says: “We are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:20-22).
The Apostle Paul goes further to say no one of us should accept the grace of God in vain. The grace of God ought to help us to change our bad and evil ways. In other words, “now is the acceptable time…now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). There is to be no room for procrastination. No one should say, “I will repent tomorrow” or “I still have enough time.” The urgent appeal is: “Be reconciled to God.”
Lent is therefore a time for mercy – a time for us to experience the mercy of God, and to show mercy to others. It is a time to seek forgiveness from those we have offended and to forgive those who have wronged us. Our experience of the Father’s mercy thus becomes the basis for our relationship with others. We are shown mercy so that we can go out and show mercy to others.
In the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, also known as the Parable of the Merciless Servant, the content of the verdict of Jesus to the servant who was forgiven a huge debt, but who refused to forgive another servant who owed him a paltry sum, is precisely tailored to this point: “I forgave you all that you owed when you begged me to do so. Weren’t you bound to have pity on your companion as I had pity on you?” (Matthew 18:32-33).
In his book, The Name of God is Mercy (2016), Pope Francis made the attitude of Jesus to the leper in Mark 1:40-45 as a model of emulation for today’s Christians. According to the Law of Moses, lepers had to be excluded from areas of human habitation. They were deserted, cast out and declared impure. In addition to suffering from illness, they also faced loneliness and marginalisation. But when the leper came to Jesus and begged him saying, “Lord, if you so will, you can make me clean” (Mark 1:40), Jesus was moved with compassion and, stretching out his hand, touched the leper and said, “I will; be clean.” Here, Jesus does not remain indifferent to the plea for mercy. He feels compassion for the marginalised leper and he let himself be wounded by his pain.
Jesus moves according to a different kind of logic – the logic of mercy, the logic of reinstating, not the logic of casting out. At his own risk he touches the leper and restores him to fullness of bodily and spiritual health. In so doing, Jesus shows us a new horizon, the logic of God who is love.
He teaches us which logic to follow when faced with people who suffer physically and spiritually. On the basis of Jesus’ logic of mercy, Christians of today ought to go beyond themselves and to touch the leprous flesh of Christ in all who suffer. The more conscious we are of our wretchedness and our sins, the more we experience the love and infinite mercy of God among us, and the more capable we are of looking upon the many ‘wounded’ we meet along the way with acceptance and mercy. That is the logic of divine mercy.It calls us to something higher than ourselves, to be “imitators of God” (Ephesians 5:1) who is “rich in mercy” (Ephesians 2:4).
In this season of Lent, which is God’s kairos(appointed time) in our Christian life, we are called to show empathy to people who are neglected and in need of love. Practising the corporal works of mercy helps us to identify with Jesus, who identifies himself with the poor, suffering and vulnerable people. In the story of the Last Judgment, Jesus says that whatever we do to them, we do unto him (cf. Matthew 25:31-46). Let us also remember to pray for our country Nigeria in these difficult times. We can make our Lenten observances an opportune moment to seek the face of God for the redemption of our nation.
Father Ojeifo is a Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Abuja.
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