Something about Ash Wednesday, more people, more Catholics go to church on Ash Wednesday than go to church on Christmas, or Easter. This is not a holy day of obligation; you don’t have to be here. As a matter of fact, on Holy Days of Obligation, most of you are not here. It’s because of this incredible symbol of ashes. It’s a powerful, powerful symbol. Even if you haven’t thought about what it means, you know what it means in your heart. It means two things, ashes are a sign of repentance and ashes are a sign of death. Throughout history, thousands of years before Christ, not only in Judaism, but in other religions as well, ashes were a sign of repentance. When people were repenting before God, they would take bushels of ashes and just pour them and beat them over their heads until they were filthy. They were serious about repentance. We got this little (makes sign of cross) but what it did is it made them who they were, nothing. In front of God, they said, "Look, I’m a mess, just have mercy on me. I’m not acting like I have a big ego; I’m not acting like I’m powerful or important. I’m a mess. Look at me. I’m a mess. I’m filthy." We know that, we know we need to repent. When you receive the ashes today, one of two formulas’ you’ll hear. "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel" or "Remember that you are dust and unto dust you shall return." You’ll reply, "Amen." That means yes I know I am a sinner, and I intend to repent. We are dust. It reminds us that we will die. We’ve had so many funerals in the parish the last several months, I said to one of our parishioners the other day, I said, "Bev, if this keeps up, we’re all gonna be dead." Well, we will.

Who reads the obituaries every day or most days? Most of you? Come on. Who reads the obituaries? You’ll notice very few young hands come up. You will read those obituaries one day. I like to read them first thing in the morning to make sure I’m not in them. Because if I am, I might as well go back to bed. The Bishop won’t be expecting any work out of me that day. Today, actually, the obituaries were rather few in the Albuquerque paper. Usually there are forty or fifty or more. If you look at the ages, they’re not all eighty. Babies die, teenagers die, twenty-year-olds die. The fact is, we don’t know when we’re going to die. We really don’t know. If you believe, and you do believe this, I believe it, that these few years that we have on earth are nothing compared to eternity. We believe that. We should be very careful about how we live, because one day will be your last. If you knew you were going to die tomorrow, if we were all going to die tomorrow, wouldn’t we be nice tonight? There would be no petty quarreling in your homes. It would be like Ozzie and Harriet broke out over all America. One day we’ll be in that obituary. I will and you will, it’s just a matter of time. These ashes remind us that we are dust and unto dust we shall return. So we need this period of Lent. Your presence here says you agree with that. It’s a period to do three things: to pray, to fast, and to be generous with our money and our material goods. I spoke about fasting Sunday for those of you who were at mass on Sunday. We also need to be generous with our material goods and to pray. You can do the fasting and prayer together. Instead of eating lunch, you can pray. You know this little chapel with the Blessed Sacrament is open 24 hours a day for you. You’ve got to know the secret combination. (The crowd says, "134"). I’ll tell you, you know, you are smarter than you look. 134. Just come here any time. Spend your lunch here and pray, and the Lord will bless you. During this period, make some resolutions about Lent. You know, if you break them, as I mentioned Sunday, sometimes when you break resolutions or we don’t keep them, they are more effective, because they remind us how weak we are, how vulnerable we are. Don’t be discouraged. Do you want to be holier on Easter Sunday than you are today? Then you will be. Don’t be discouraged. Don’t listen to Satan’s voice telling you you are no good. You’ve already messed it up, there’s no hope for you. That’s nonsense. That cross proves there is hope for everyone. It says that it is no small thing that He died for you. Listen rather, not to the voice of the adversary, but of the advocate, our Lord, Jesus Christ, who intercedes for you at the right hand of the Father, and who loves you. Listen to his voice throughout this period saying, "I love you, and I will always love you."

On Easter Sunday, everyone here can be holier than we are tonight. This reminds me of a monk I knew. I went to Seminary in Mount Angel, Oregon, and around twenty pounds ago, twenty years ago, I used to run around this hilltop that was 5 miles around. Frequently I’d pass this monk who was walking, he was in his 80’s, and he was grouchy. I’d say, "Hello Father" and he’d growl. So one day I was in a bad mood and I stopped and I said hello and he growled at me and I went back and I kind of got in his face, and I said, "How long have you been a monk." He said something like 60 years, and I said, how long have you been a priest, and he said 50 years, and I said you go to mass every day, you pray five times a day, and you are a living grouch." Then he liked me. I think he was from New York City. He looked at me and said, "Well, I’m not as good as I ought to be, and I’m not as good as I’m gonna be, but I’m a heck of a lot better than I used to be", but he didn’t say heck. I hope everyone of us, on Easter Sunday, can say, "I’m not as good as I ought to be, and I’m not as good as I’m gonna be, but I’m better than I used to be."