"The ashes tell a truth about divine love and mercy"
Archbishop John Wilson’s Ash Wednesday homily
Archbishop John Wilson used his Ash Wednesday homily to offer a message of consolation and hope, reminding us that the ashes received at the start of Lent speak not only of human mortality but of God's enduring love and mercy.
Archbishop John reflected on the ancient gesture that marks the beginning of this season:
"we step across the threshold of this great season of renewal and repentance, we do so with a gesture that is ancient as Scripture itself: Ashes”.
The meaning of those ashes, he said, runs deeper than a reminder of mortality:
"They are placed upon our head in the sign of the cross. It is sobering, but most of all consoling, because the ashes we receive tell the truth about our mortality: We are dust and unto dust we shall return. But at the same time, they tell a truth about divine love and divine mercy”.
The cross at the heart of that gesture carries its own proclamation, the Archbishop explained, it is the "sign that God does not wish us to perish, but to live forever with him… we live by grace, by God's love and his mercy, which rescues our broken reality and transfigures it”.
Archbishop John said that is why Lent itself is the:
"antidote to what is fickle, changing and fragile. It returns us back to what endures. It returns us back to who endures: to Jesus Christ, our Saviour”.
He concluded with a word of encouragement for all embarking on the Lenten journey:
"the ashes are not a gloomy badge, but a pledge of hope. We are dust, we will decay into dust, but God has breathed life into this dust and for as long as we have our life, let us live it for him”.
Earlier in the evening, Archbishop John led the faithful in praying the Romero Rosary at the Shrine of St Oscar Romero, reflecting on how Romero's intercession connects our hearts to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, through his Blessed Mother.
Archbishop John will lead the Romero Rosary again on Friday 6 March and Friday 27 March. On all other Fridays throughout Lent, the rosary will be led by the clergy of St George's Cathedral. Details can be found at rcaos.org.uk/romerorosary.
May this Lent be a time of grace, drawing you ever closer to the Lord Jesus.
