Homily given by Bishop Anthony Randazzo
Bishop of Broken Bay
Ash Wednesday 2025
5 March 2025
As we gather today to begin this holy season of Lent, we will do so with ashes on our foreheads as a sign of our repentance and our desire to turn once more to God.
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of our pilgrimage into Easter hope, a journey that leads us through the desert of our own weaknesses and sinfulness toward the glorious light of the Resurrection.
In this Holy Year, as pilgrims into hope, we are invited to reflect deeply on the grace and mercy of God, and to renew our commitment to living as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. The Scriptures today provide us with a powerful call to repentance, reconciliation, and hope.
In the prophet Joel, we hear these words: “Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, lament. Let them say, ‘Spare your people, Lord! Do not make your heritage a thing of shame.’” (Joel 2:17)
Joel reminds us that God is always faithful, always ready to forgive, always calling us back to Himself. It is the call of God’s mercy that we respond to today, recognizing that, though we have been redeemed in baptism, the odour of sin can still linger in our lives, tempting us to lose hope, to abandon the grace of baptism, and to revert to past sinful ways.
In the second reading, Saint Paul reminds us of the urgency of the moment: “Now is the favourable time; this is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2).
This is the moment, my brothers and sisters. Today, God invites us to return to Him with all our hearts, to seek His mercy, and to receive the grace He so generously offers. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are given the strength to walk the path of conversion and renewal, and it is through this Holy Spirit that we are made new.
In the Gospel, Jesus speaks to us about the importance of sincerity in our spiritual practices. Our acts of penance, our fasting, prayer, and almsgiving, are not meant for show, but for the transformation of our hearts.
Lent is a season not merely of external actions, but of internal conversion, a time for us to draw near to God, to be purified by His grace, and to grow in love for God and for one another.
In this Holy Year, we are called to walk as pilgrims into hope. We are disciples of the Lord Jesus, and as disciples, we are journeying together toward the fulfillment of the promise He has made to us: eternal life with Him.
The journey is not always easy, there are challenges, temptations, and struggles along the way. But as pilgrims into hope, we walk with the knowledge that God is faithful, that He has reconciled us through Jesus Christ, and that He has filled us with divine life through the power of the Holy Spirit.
This Lent, let us renew our commitment to living as disciples of Jesus Christ. Let us turn once more to God, who is always faithful, always merciful, and always ready to forgive. And let us take this journey together, as pilgrims into hope, trusting in the grace that will sustain us and lead us to the joy of the Resurrection. Amen.