Ash Wednesday Jubilee Year 2025
A start of a new beginning of Lent
Deacon Patrick Constantino | Photos courtesy Patrick Constantino
Let us begin this Lent by not saying, it’s same o, same o,’ but start anew in our lives and keep the faith for a better life and a new person in years to come. This means when we keep our faith and hope alive, we continue our belief in God and the end of our Jubilee Year ends when we are with God our Father, in his Kingdom.
We are faced with many challenges through life with hardships. Fires, storm floodings, accidents, killings, illnesses, drowse, tornadoes, hurricanes, wars, homelessness, and political happenings in our lives in our country and world, everyday news stories are endless on the radio, TV, and news. Despite all this, we stay strong together and pray, hope, and be not afraid for God is with us! Always remember this, He will not abandon us! Yes, it is painful, but He is always with us!
Symbol of Ash Wednesday
The ashes used on Ash Wednesday symbolize repentance, mortality, and God’s forgiveness. The ashes are also a reminder of our brokenness and God’s love.
Origin of the ashes
The ashes come from burning the palms used on Palm Sunday the previous year. The ashes are blessed by the Church.
How the ashes are used
During Ash Wednesday services, ashes are applied in the shape of a cross on the foreheads of worshippers. The presider—Priest or Deacon says: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” The phrase recalls God’s words to Adam in Genesis 3:19 before the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. The person administering ashes also may say, “Repent and believe in the Gospel.”
A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew (6:1–6, 16–18)
Jesus said to his disciples: “Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father. When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing, so that your almsgiving may be secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.
“When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.”
“When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. They neglect their appearance, so that they may appear to others to be fasting. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to others to be fasting, except to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.”
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ!
I do not like thinking about death. I am guessing you do not either. As a younger person I almost never thought about it. But as the years go by, I approach the inevitable, I think about it a lot more. For some of us, the realization we truly are going to die someday comes gradually. For others, this realization comes like a bolt of lightning after a scary test result delivered by a doctor. It would be nice to not even be aware death is on the horizon at all, go through life without a clue our time on this earth is finite. Or would it? Today, of course, we start Lent, a holy time of reflection, prayer, and sacrifice. And the sign most signifying this season for the vast majority of us is ashes. We’re going to come forward in a few minutes and have them smeared across our foreheads, something we never, ever experience on any other day. And through this action, the Church is reminding us of the one thing we never want to be reminded of, the one thing we would avoid at all costs if we could—that we are going to die. Not a few of us. Every single one of us. Who wants to be reminded of that? And in case we did not exactly know what ashes signified, the Church many of us grew up in always used the same words to make the message crystal clear: Remember that you are dust, and unto dust, you shall return. Yikes! As you well know, people who administer ashes are now also permitted to substitute a different formula: Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel. That sounds a lot better, doesn’t it? It sounds more like a spiritual pep-talk instead of a pronouncement of our inevitable death. Why are the two formulas so different? Who said they are? Despite our common aversion to thinking about death, it actually is a blessing, a gift, a help to us as we journey through life. The reason is simple—we in faith believe there is so much more to life than just what we can see, more to life than just the struggles and competitiveness and crosses we are asked or forced to carry. There is the short time we are on this earth, and there is eternity, something fleeting and something never-ending, something always leaving us unfulfilled, and something, or more correctly, someone who never disappoints. And so, ashes remind us to see the bigger picture and realize pursuing things selfishly in this world is pointless and will never satisfy us in the way we want. And it will all pass away someday, all become meaningless and of little value in the face of the death looming before us. Remembering we will die someday then becomes sort of liberating—freeing us from the relentless pursuit of our own satisfaction, our own wants and needs—allowing us to live more fully for others. This other-centeredness is a powerful sign of a genuine life in God—a life beginning on this earth and through the grace of God continues on into eternity. That is the “repenting and believing in the Gospel” we are encouraged to embrace—the re-orienting of our lives in the direction of the things that last, the things that matter, the things leading us into the tender arms of our loving God for all eternity. It is our acceptance of our finite times on this earth and belief in the world to come that provides us with both the hope and humility to embrace the loving, God-centered life Jesus died and rose to make possible. My friends, we do not have to join in the rat race where everyone is scrambling to get as much as they can before they die. Death will be here soon enough. But life with and in God will never end!
Remember That You Are Dust
Repent … Believe in the gospel … That is the perfect formula for living “the incredible life God has in store for you and me!” Have a blessed Lent everyone! Jesus, I trust in You! Amen!
Deacon Patrick Constantino retired from active Ministry on July 1, 2022. He is still a Deacon in good standing with full faculties to perform all sacraments in the Diocesan of Honolulu Hawai‘i. Constantino has been ordained for thirty-seven years. He is the first Filipino Deacon in the Diocesan of Honolulu. Prior to his ordination, Constantino was in government—first appointed in 1966 as Assistant Sergeant of Arms by the Speaker of the House Elmer F. Cravalho. When Cravalho became Maui’s first Mayor, Constantino became his Executive Assistant—the first of Filipino ancestry. Later, Constantino became the first County Treasurer of Filipino ancestry and the first County Grants Administrator and Risk Manager of Filipino ancestry. Constantino is married to his lovely wife Corazon for sixty-four years. They are blessed with four children, eleven grandchildren, and fifteen great-grandchildren.