Homily given by Bishop Anthony Randazzo
Bishop of Broken Bay
Ash Wednesday 2023
Our Lady of the Rosary Cathedral, Waitara
Just the other day I heard someone parroting the tired old line that we have to become a new Church. This monotonous tune included the call to cast off acts of devotion and piety that have held Catholic Christians steady in the faith for generations. I am disappointed when I hear this kind of talk, especially from long time Catholics and even some clergy.
Our vocation is not to “become a new Church”, it is to be faithful to our baptism which calls us into communion with God and with others. Our vocation and mission as priests, teachers, parents, families, and witnesses of God’s love and mercy, is to probe the mystery of a relationship with God, which is made possible through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
It is not a new Church that is needed but a faithful and renewed one. The People of God – priests and people – all the baptised, living life to the full in the Spirit of God.
My sisters and brothers, the holy season of Lent provides us with many opportunities to embrace and live life in the Spirit by turning away from sin and believing in the Good News.
In the Gospel, Jesus names three sure fast ways to live out the season of Lent. Alms giving, prayer, and fasting. He teaches us that to follow him as a disciple, we need to be vigilant in our relationships – with others, with God, and with ourselves.
It is not a call to scrupulosity or rigid practices of religion. It is an invitation to eternal life, which begins with small acts of selflessness, carried out with humility and simplicity. What we do in Lent will hopefully impact upon who we are for the rest of the year.
Our devotional practices from the past have suffered the indignity of rejection in more recent years by some members of the Church. We have never been asked to do away with old penitential practices. Rather, we have been asked by popes and bishops over the past sixty years or so, to find new ways of keeping Lent. The call to conversion is one that is aimed at every believer, every day of our life.
Whatever we undertake in the spirit of penance, our intentions need to be to increase the vigour of Christian life for all the faithful. Perhaps, what is needed is a rebuilding of some of our Lenten practices from the past, through new ways of fasting and penance. (cf “Mind the Gap”, Bishop Putney, 2004) Walking the Way of the Cross might be both a personal journey and a communal pilgrimage of grace.
Meditation and contemplation of the Passion of Christ through the Gospels is not restricted to Passion Sunday or Good Friday. And then there is the great work of mercy made available through Project Compassion, which has never lost its power to bring our communities of faith to work for peace and justice. Our Lenten program in Broken Bay has the potential to be so much more than merely a study group. Embraced in the true spirit of Lent, it has the capability of being a pathway for genuine conversion to Christ.
None of this is a new Church. All of it is an authentic way to live our faith as Catholic Christians.
My dear people, the invitation this Lent is not one to replant ideals and practices from the past into our time. That would be far too simplistic. Rather, I would invite you to ask one question: Who is Christ for the world of this time?
Having asked that question, we then must ask: what must change in my life, so that others will see and know Christ in me?
Considering these two questions will keep most of us busy during the forty days of Lent. This is our Lenten work. Might we undertake this work with cheerfulness and joy so that we will become holy, to become people who love God and our neighbour more and more.
Let’s not weaken or diminish the faith, rather, let us impart a new strength to the Christian life of God’s people by living the whole Christian mystery of faith in all its beauty and truth. Amen.