CHARLOTTE — Bishop Peter Jugis stressed two words in his homily for Ash Wednesday: repent and atone. This Year of Mercy is the perfect time to perform works of mercy to atone for sin, he said during Mass at St. Patrick Cathedral in Charlotte Feb. 10 to mark the start of Lent.
"Two words I would like to leave with you this afternoon as we celebrate Ash Wednesday: the first word being 'repent,' which is the message of Ash Wednesday," Bishop Jugis said. "We heard in the first reading, 'Return to the Lord your God.' In other words, repent and do penance for your sins."
"Repentance is so important, of course, because when it happens the Lord gives us a new heart and a new spirit. That's ultimately what He wishes of us: to be recreated constantly, daily, to receive that new heart which His grace always creates within us. For Him to do that in us requires repentance," he said. "We must repent."
All of the cathedral's Ash Wednesday Masses, like many such services across the Diocese of Charlotte, were standing-room only. Clergy, including Bishop Jugis, emphasized the importance of repentance in seeking God's mercy. Receiving ashes on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday, they said, is a tangible, external sign of repentance and an interior conversion of heart that is taking place.
"The Lord expects that there will be a match-up between what is demonstrated externally in the ashes, and is what is taking place internally in the heart, that repentance actually is taking place," Bishop Jugis noted.
"About six weeks ago on Jan. 1 -- from this very pulpit -- I proposed a worthy New Year's resolution that we all might want to follow: holiness. Certainly, repentance from our sins and asking forgiveness for our sins is an integral part of holiness," he said.
Bishop Jugis said that if we really want to be holy, as Jesus asks of us, we have to be busy and serious about that work of repenting of our sins.
"Remember what Jesus said as He hung upon the cross? 'Father, forgive them.' Beautiful words which transcend all time and all place! He is saying in His crucifixion, His suffering, His death and His resurrection that all of that is taking place for the forgiveness of sins. And from that suffering, from that agony, He pronounces forgiveness for us. Forgiveness for the human race."
Bishop Jugis stressed that it is important during this season of Lent to keep our eyes on the crucified Lord. And remember those words that He spoke out of love for us: "Father, forgive them."
"That forgiveness is yours when you turn to Him. So let us go to confession to receive that grace of forgiveness," he said.
The second word Bishop Jugis asked the faithful to remember during Lent is "atone."
"Not only do we repent of our sins but then we must atone for our sins, the Lord asks of us. What a beautiful year we have in the Jubilee Year of Mercy, to dedicate ourselves to works of mercy which are a most beautiful way to atone for our sins!" he said. "To atone for every way we have been disobedient to God's will. To atone for all the ways we have been selfish, self-centered in a sinful way -- to perform those works of mercy -- to atone."
Bishop Jugis listed works of mercy we can all engage in this Lent: feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless, visiting the sick and the imprisoned, burying the dead, counseling the doubtful, instructing the ignorant, admonishing sinners, comforting the afflicted, forgiving offenses and bearing wrongs patiently.
"All these beautiful works of mercy show how we can atone for all we have done wrong," he said. "Let us now ask God to bless us as we begin this most important season of repentance."
— SueAnn Howell, senior reporter