ASH WEDNESAY: A CALL TO TRUE CHANGE
Fr. Prof. Cornelius Afebu Omonokhua
According to John Cardinal Henry
Newman, “To live is to change and to have
changed often is to be perfect.” This belief is accepted by many people.
Another common slogan today is: “Be the change you want to see in others.” The clamour for change is not new. People are
generally bored with permanence and duration. Before
Socrates, “change” was one of the themes of debate for ancient philosophers.
Heraclitus was the first known philosopher to have directly raised the issue of
change. According to him, "one cannot step into the same river
twice". "The road up and the road down are one and the same". On
the contrary, the Eleatic school of thought founded by Parmenides affirmed that
change was impossible and that reality was one. The followers of Parmenides
especially, Melissus and Zeno provided more arguments to prove the impossibility
of motion that involves an infinite number of steps. Aristotle introduced the
notion of potency and act to distinguish being-in-act from being-in-potency. He
discovered the concept of potency by observing accidental changes. He observed,
for instance, that a sculptor can make a statue from a block of marble. The figure of the statue is in potency in the
block of marble. For Aristotle, motion is the technical name for change in
accident. He identified three kinds of motion: a change in quality (alteration),
a change in quantity, size (growth or diminution), and a change in place (local
motion). Aquinas proposed that for
every true motion, there must be a cause sustaining that motion. With this
position he identified the first way of proving the existence of God.[1]
The above arguments present the
fact that for everything that exists, there is an author. That whatever exists
is in motion and therefore subject to temporary permanence. In this context,
every change is bound to have content. In the motion of change, the question is
“what is the status of the present reality?” “From what to what is the reality
changing?” Another question could be; “Which is easier, to change oneself or to
change another person.” The reality in life is that many people do not think
that they need change, they often think that it is the other person that is
going the wrong way.” The truth is that the greatest warrior in the world is a
person who can conquer himself or herself by taking charge and control over his
or her temperaments. This is where the concept of change is central in human
existence.
Creation was put in place to set
in motion the principle of dynamism and progress. God exists of himself; hence
only God is constant and does not need change. Whoever thinks that he can
change the world without changing himself is claiming equality with God. It is
only God who exists by nature. Every other creature derives existence from God
who chose to create the world and all that exists. The world exists because of
God’s free choice that the world should be (Genesis 1: 1-25). In Adam, the
human race is chosen and sent on a mission to change in the context of service
to “be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and conquer it. Humanity was chosen
to be master of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven and all living
creatures on the earth” (Genesis 1: 28- 29). Jesus Christ would tell us later
that, “Any tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into
the fire” (Matthew 7: 19). But in Adam, humanity failed in the call to be
fruitful. The eating of the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3) is akin to producing
sour fruits (Isaiah 5: 1-4).
Today we live in a world where some people present themselves simply as
the best and agents of change. Some people have developed a complex of not
seeing anything good in the present, they only think that, “the bird in the
bush is better than the bird at hand”, contrary to the normal adage that, “a
bird at hand is worth more than a thousand in the bush”. Because the human
person is selfish, the world has been turned to a rolling stone that gathers no
mud. To encourage self transformation, the Church celebrates Ash Wednesday to recall humanity to authentic
existence. The wearing of ashes is a response to the call to repent and believe
in the Gospel (Mark 1:15). Those who wear ashes are reminded that from dust,
they were created and to dust they would return (Genesis 3:19).
Palm Sunday reminds human beings of the inconsistency of human nature.
The same people who shouted hosanna at the triumphant entry of Jesus into
Jerusalem not for too long shouted: “Away with him! Crucify him!” In life, your
praise singers today could prefer a thief to you tomorrow. In comfort, a person lacks the vision and
wisdom to know true friends and real foes because in his riches a person lacks
wisdom (Psalm 49:1-13). Ash Wednesday is
thus a day of intra-personal dialogue and self introspection for a person to
rediscover the real self and the true neighbour.
In the Old Testament, ashes were
used to express mourning and sorrow for sins and faults. Job says to God:
"I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear: but now my eyes have seen
you. Therefore I humble myself, and repent in dust and ashes" (Job
42:5-6). The prophet Jeremiah calls for repentance saying: "O daughter of
my people, gird on sackcloth, roll in the ashes" (Jeremiah 6:26). The
prophet Daniel “turned to the Lord God, pleading in earnest prayer, with
fasting, sackcloth and ashes" (Daniel 9:3). The Maccabees prepared for
battle by fasting. They fasted and wore sackcloth; they sprinkled ashes on
their heads and tore their clothes (1 Maccabees 3:47; 4:39). Other books of the
Old Testament like Numbers, Ezekiel and Jonah indicates fasting and penance by
wearing of ashes and sackcloth.
Lent is the period of fasting for
Christians. The 40 days of fasting by Jesus (Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; Luke
4:1-13) should call every Christian to the desert of interior life to think
again of the need for transformation of self, the family, the Church and the
nation. If the heart is divided, that can affect the family and the nation.
This is the time for Christians to work for the internal unity of the Christian
body above any material gains. If the Church is divided, going further to seek
unity and peaceful coexistence with people of other religions would only end in
outward ceremonies. Moses spent 40 days praying and fasting in the wilderness.
This empowered him to repent and asked for forgiveness on behalf of the people
for worshiping the Golden calf that was made by the Israelites.
The Jews today follow a 40 day
period of repentance during the feasts of Rosh
Chodesh Elul to Yom Kippur. In
Nigeria, many people have created the golden calf of money and power. Human
beings are killed and sacrificed for these idols on a daily basis. This calls
for change of individual attitude. If every Nigerian resolves to be a normal
human being that is created by God and want to meet the creator on the last
day, then the Nation will change from her present tension and fear of
annihilation to a brighter hope of abundant life. Let us each transform our
interior existence! I believe this will go a long way to bringing about the
change we desire not only by singing the music of change. Remember that you are
dust, and unto dust you will return. Repent (change) and believe in God by
upholding human dignity.
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