DISINTEGRATION

The title of my homily or reflection for this Ash Wednesday is disintegration.

When Ashes are rubbed into our forehead - our skull  - our face - on Ash Wednesday, the person giving the ashes says, “Repent and believe in the Gospel” or “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”  I always say  the second message: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Dust - it seems to be a must - everything disintegrates - slowly - and we see dust in as well as floating around inside our homes - sometimes when the sun is sliding through an afternoon window. Dust seems to land on everything in a room or attic that isn’t used that often.

The title of my homily or reflection for this Ash Wednesday is disintegration.

I don’t dust - well maybe two times a year - so I suspect I’m more aware of disintegration than others.

In winter - the tips of my fingers crack more than in summer. I put skin cream on my finger tips - as well as Band-Aids at times - but my skin still cracks and cut. I don’t remember my skin doing this as a little kid. Is that true?  My memory is also slowly disintegrating.

Disintegration….

On Ash Wednesday they put ashes on our forehead and we hear the words from the book of  Genesis: “Remember you are dust and into dust you shall return.”

Disintegration …. Has anyone ever written a song called, “Disintegration”? or is that too tough a topic to touch. I looked that question up. Sure enough there is an album called, “Disintegration” by The Cure - whoever they are. Are they still together or have they disintegrated?

Have you been to a funeral lately?  More and more people are being cremated after they die. It hastens the process. It saves money and space. Some people are dealing with doing funerals that way better than others.

Disintegration….

I remember one of the first jokes I got - that had some abstraction in it - and I was just a little kid. “What did the moron say when he saw dust curls under his bed?” Answer: “Someone is either coming or going?”

On Ash Wednesday we hear the words rubbed into our forehead along with ashes, “Remember you are dust and into dust you shall return.”

Ash Wednesday - along with Palm Sunday - are two of the busiest days of the year for Church. People get something different. Ashes used to be collected from the palms from the previous year. Now the ashes are bought and come in plastic bags - and these seem to work  better.

Plastic bags blow in wind - end up stuck in trees and hedges - hurt or kill wild life - or make it to garbage dumps - where it takes 15 to 1000 years to disintegrate  - or they go up in flames - and become ashes.

Disintegration….

Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent - the season of Seriousness - when it’s rubbed into our foreheads the message that we have a shelf life - an expiration date - and it’s printed in black ashes on the front side of our package - on our forehead and then those ashes disintegrate throughout the day. Kids love to chatter about ashes on Ash Wednesday.

Last Sunday afternoon at 3 PM I had the baptism of a tiny little baby right here at St. Mary’s: Evangeline Cecilia.  Last Sunday afternoon at 4:30 PM I was at Hardesty’s for a wake service of a woman who died at the age of 87. Birth - Death - the in-between. Church - church time - reminds us of so much.

Life is the integration and disintegration. 

Life is the integration of our mom and dad who create us and our life time begins: pregnancy, birth, life, death. 

Life is learning to put things together - integrating seeing someone standing up and walking and talking and learning and working and relating and marrying and on and on and on -  and then we try it. And somewhere along the line we start to learn about disintegration - as we  learn what life is about. Some say we start crumbling from day one. I don’t want to be that realistic. A baby’s skin is much different than an 87 year old lady’s skin. At the age of 73, my skin tells me this every time I look in the mirror to shave or brush my teeth.

Ash Wednesday begins Lent - a time to check out the serious things.

We have the regular Mass schedule here at St. Mary’s as well as our other church - St. John Neumann: Sunday and weekdays.

We have the extras of Lent: Stations of the Cross every Friday evening at 7:30; Confessions on the weekends - as well as The Light Is On Confessions at St. John Neumann every Wednesday evening at 6:30 till 8 PM; 5 Tuesday nights an hour service on 5 Parables - a time for a talk, some prayers, some quiet, some reflection; Father Milton is going to do a program from Father Barron CD's on the 7 Deadly Sins on 4 Wednesdays after the 12:10; check the bulletin for all these events. Then there are the Soup Suppers on Wednesday evenings at St. John Neumann. Choose some of these events and spiritual practices - as well as use the booklets that were on the tables in the back of church.

We come here not just for Ashes or palms - both of which disintegrate - but for the Lord Jesus Christ in Communion - to be in communion with him and each other - because we believe because of him we last forever - and the person who I am disintegrates - but reintegrates - a good word for the Resurrection - which we believe in - as the Apostles  creed puts it, “I believe in … the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.