Ash Wednesday

RETURN WITH YOUR WHOLE HEART
From a homily by St Faustus of Riez 4
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Our Lord and Savior exhorts us through the prophet and advises us how
we ought to come to Him after many negligences, saying: “Come let us bow
down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord who made us”; and again: “Return
to me with your whole heart, with fasting, with weeping and mourning”. If we
notice carefully, dearest brethren, the holy days of Lent signify the life of the
present world, just as Easter prefigures eternal bliss. Now just as we have a kind
of sadness in Lent in order that we may rightly rejoice at Easter, so as long as
we live in this world we ought to do penance in order that we may be able to
receive pardon for our sins in the future and arrive at eternal joy. Each one
ought to sigh over his own sins, shed tears and give alms in such a way that with
God’s help he may always try to avoid the same faults as long as he lives. Just as
there never has been, is not now, and never will be a soul without slight sins, so
with the help and assistance of God we ought to be altogether without serious
sins.

Now in order that we may obtain this, if burdens of the world keep us
occupied at other times, at least during the holy days of Lent let us reflect on the
law of the Lord, as it is written, by day and by night. Let us so fill our hearts with
the sweetness of the divine law that we leave no place within us devoid of virtues
so that vices could occupy it. Just as at the time of the harvest or
vintage…enough is gathered so that the body may be fed, so during the days of
Lent as at a time of spiritual harvest or vintage we ought to gather the means
whereby our soul may live forever. Whenever a careless person fails to gather
anything at the time of harvest or vintage, he will be distressed by hunger
throughout the entire space of the year. In the same way if anyone at this season
neglects to provide and gather spiritual wheat and heavenly wine in the
storehouse of his soul by fasting, reading and prayer, he will suffer forever the
most severe thirst and cruel want. Know for sure, dearest brethren, that the soul
which is not fed continuously by the word of God is like a body which receives
food only after many days. Just as the body becomes thin and dehydrated,
almost like a shadow, through hunger and want, so the soul which is not fed on
God’s word is found to be parched and useless, fit for no good work. Consider,
brethren, if every year we fill the barn and wine cellar and storehouse in order
that our body may have food for one year, how much do you think we ought to
store up so that our soul may be nourished forever?

4 St Caesarius of Arles, Sermons, vo. 3, The Fathers of the Church, vol. 66, Catholic University of America Press,
Washington DC, 1973, pg. 48.