Ash Wednesday: charity, prayer and penance as ‘weapons’ against evil, says Pope Benedict XVI

(22 Feb. 2007) : On Wednesday evening, Pope Benedict XVI led a procession from Rome’s Sant’ Anselmo Benedictine Church to the basilica of Santa Sabina, as part of the first traditional ‘Lent Station’. A long procession of cardinals, bishops, priests, men and women religious and the faithful participated in a ceremony that has been repeated since ancient times. Titular Cardinal Jozef Tomko of Santa Sabina imposed the ashes on Pope Benedict, who then did the same to others present.

Highlighting the meaning of Ash Wednesday, Pope Benedict said in his homily: “With this penitential procession we begin a journey towards true conversion so as to victoriously confront with the weapons of penance the fight against the spirit of evil. The imposition of the ashes has a double meaning, the Pontiff said. The first refers to an inner change, to conversion and penance, whilst the second refers to the precariousness of human existence easily seen in the two expressions that accompany the gesture.” Pope Benedict further said, now “we have 40 days to deepen this extraordinary ascetic and spiritual experience.” Jesus himself tells us what are “the useful instruments to achieve a true inner and communal renewal: charity (alms), prayer and penance (fasting). “Fasting, which the Church invites us to do during this demanding time, is certainly not motivated by physical or aesthetic reasons. It stems man’s need to purify himself from within and detoxify himself from sin and evil. It teaches him to accept the beneficial renunciatory practices that free the believer from the slavery of his own self. It makes him listen more attentively to God and more available to Him and to serve his brothers. For this reason fasting and other Lenten practices are seen in the Christian tradition as spiritual ‘weapons’ in the fight against evil, wicked passions and vices,” the Pontiff emphasised.