"... renew within me a steadfast spirit"

For Roman Catholics, Ash Wednesday and the three days that follow are something of a warm-up for Lent. What we call the three days following the start of Lent indicate this. For example, liturgically, today is Friday after Ash Wednesday. By contrast, next Friday is the Friday of the First Week of Lent.

Hearkening back to my homily for Ash Wednesday, Psalm 51, the Miserere, is the first Psalm of Morning Prayer for today. Along with Evening Prayer, Morning Prayer is a "hinge" hour of the Liturgy of the Hours. Morning and Evening Prayer are the hinges on which the other five hours (or offices) swing. At least in the United States, Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer, the hinge hours, are what deacons are obligated to pray.

There are times, especially during Advent and Lent, when I mix this up a bit and pray the Office of Readings and Night Prayer, thus maintaining my ordination promise to faithfully pray the Liturgy of the Hours with and for the people of God. I start praying the Office of Readings on the Fifth Sunday of Lent, when this office consists of reading from the Letter to the Hebrews, which is one of my favorite books in all of Sacred Scripture. This goes on through Holy Week.

It bears noting that except when a solemnity falls on Friday (I include Friday in the octaves of Christmas and Easter in this), Fridays throughout the year are days of penance. So, just as every Sunday, even during Lent, is a little Easter, each Friday is a little Lent. As my long history on this blog shows, I believe this practice to be very important.

In Psalm 51 we pray: "A clean heart create for me, God; renew within me a steadfast spirit" (v. 12). I don't know about anyone else, but the plea for "a clean heart" is for me a constant plea. But especially this Lent, I am asking God to renew in me a steadfast spirit. If I had to describe 2025 thus far in one word that word would be destabilizing.

Being destabilized is not all bad. I've been struggling through the gateway to a new season of life. This has meant discerning where it is the Lord is leading me, where He wants to me go. I am a bit like the rich young man, except I am no longer young and not terribly rich. Following Jesus always comes at a cost. What is the reward for following Jesus? Jesus!

Lent is a blessed season. With everything going on, all the rancor, vitriol, uncertainty, and, yes, what seems like destabilization, it probably seems to many people that Lent began early. This is understandable. For many, Pope Francis' health crisis only adds to the cloudiness of the present moment. It seems we all need to be renewed with a steadfast spirit.

Since I've already invoked Hebrews, let us not lose sight of this revealed truth: "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever" (13:8). Jesus is Lord is much more than an empty, that is, political, slogan.

All political slogans are ultimately empty. All ideologies contain the seeds of their own destruction. They cannot deliver on their promises because what they promise is ultimate and politics are provisional, transitory. When it comes to political engagement, it is vital for Christians, eschewing ideology, to exercise prudential judgment. Being, in the words of Jesus, "shrewd as serpents" and, at the same time, "simple as doves" (Matt 10:16).

What is more worrisome about ideologies is that they can destroy their adherents and decimate socities. Christians need to resist those that seek to co-opt Christianity and/or the Church in the service of an ideology. I believe there is an inverse proportionality between how loudly a politician proclaims his/her Christian allegiance and the actual Christian nature of their politics in one way or another. If nothing else, such a stance lacks humility.

Don't get me started on politicians parading around with ashes on their foreheads. It would be far more convincing if they also sported sack cloth suits. So much American Christianity is performative these days. We put the scribes and Pharisees to shame. "Show your ash," indeed!

I think of a story of the late Msgr Lorenzo Albacete, who, on a visit to St. Peter's Square, pointed to the Egyptian obelisk and said something to the effect that it is flipping the bird to all the ideologies of the world. This is an interesting "take" to be sure.

It should come as no surprise that our traditio for this Friday after Ash Wednesday is the Miserere. Specifically, sung by The Sixteen, it is the Miserere composed by Gregorio Allegri most likely in the 1630s, during the pontificate of Urban VIII. It was intended to be used exclusively in the Sistine Chapel during Tenebrae services of Holy Week.