Vatican: the ashes mark the beginning, not the end, of a new life

Ash Wednesday and Lent are a time to remember that new life emerges from the ashes and that spring blossoms from the desolation of winter, said a well-known Italian theologian. And when people are fasting from media overload, as Pope Francis asked people to do for Lent, they should turn their attention to the real people around them, Servite Father Ermes Ronchi told Vatican News on Feb.16. Instead of being “glued” to the Internet, “and if we looked people in the eye as we look at our phones, 50 times a day, looking at them with the same attention and intensity, how many things would change? How many things would we discover? " churches. The Italian priest, who was chosen by Pope Francis to lead his annual Lenten retreat in 2016, spoke to Vatican News about how to understand Lent and Ash Wednesday during a global pandemic, particularly when many people have already lost so. much.

He recalled the natural cycles in agricultural life when wood ash from heating homes during a long winter would be returned to the soil to provide it with important nutrients for spring. “The ashes are what remains when there is nothing left, it is the bare minimum, almost nothing. And that's where we can and must start over, ”he said, instead of stopping in despair. The ashes stained or sprinkled on the faithful therefore "are not so much about 'remember that you must die', but 'remember that you must be simple and fruitful'". The Bible teaches "the economy of little things" in which there is nothing better than being "nothing" before God, he said.

“Don't be afraid of being fragile, but think of Lent as the transformation from ashes to light, from what's left to fullness,” he said. “I see it as a time that is not penitential, but alive, not a time of mortification, but as a revitalization. It is the moment in which the seed is in the earth “. For those who suffered great losses during the pandemic, Father Ronchi said that the tension and the struggle also lead to new fruits, like a gardener who prunes trees "not for penance", but "to bring them back to the essential" and stimulate a new growth and energy. “We are living in a time that can bring us back to the essential, rediscovering what is permanent in our life and what is fleeting. Therefore, this moment is a gift to be more fruitful, not to punish “. Regardless of the measures or restrictions in place due to the pandemic, people still have all the tools they need, which no virus can take away: charity, tenderness and forgiveness, he said. "It is true that this Easter will be marked by fragility, by so many crucifixes, but what is asked of me is a sign of charity," he added. “Jesus came to bring about a revolution of limitless tenderness and forgiveness. These are the two things that build universal fraternity “.