Archbishop Viganò: Homily on Ash Wednesday

[Stone]

Parce, Domine
Homily on Ash Wednesday

Flectamus iram vindicem,
ploremus ante Judicem;
clamemus ore supplici,
dicamus omnes cernui:
Parce, Domine;
parce populo tuo:
ne in æternum irascaris nobis.

The Divine Liturgy accompanies us through the solar year as in a mirror, in which we see the history of the Redemption summarized and represented. The time of Advent takes us back to the expectation of the Messiah in the ancient Law; the time of Christmas celebrates His Most Holy Incarnation; Holy Lent and Passiontide take us back to the times that preceded the Sacrifice of the Cross; the time of Easter celebrates the Resurrection and the Ascension of the Lord into heaven; the time of Pentecost retraces the earthly life of the Savior, His miracles, and His teachings; and at the end of the liturgical cycle – just as at its beginning – we are projected to the End Times, to the Universal Judgment, to the reward or condemnation of each and every person. In a certain way the seasons of the year themselves accompany this sacred summary of Salvation History, so that during the rigors of winter we understand the pains of the Child King born in a manger, and then as nature awakens during springtime we are able to see the homage of Creation to the Lord who rises again and triumphs over death.

Today, on Ash Wednesday, we enter into a time of penance and purification to prepare ourselves in body and spirit for this Triumph of Our Lord: a real, historical triumph, witnessed by those who were its contemporaries, and celebrated by Christians of every age and place. To accompany us in this purification, the Holy Liturgy shows us what our fathers did in the Old Testament and points out to us the need to be ready in turn to face the great persecution of the End Times. Because one cannot fight without preparation, nor line up for a race without training for it.

In the Old Testament, the priests invoke mercy for the people: Parce, Domine, parce populo tuo! Spare your people, O Lord. In the New Testament, it is Christ himself, raised on the wood of the Cross, who intercedes for us: Forgive them, O Father! And together with Him, the Most Holy Virgin, all the Saints, and the souls in Purgatory also intercede before the throne of the Divine Majesty. We ourselves, members of the Communion of Saints, offer our sacrifices to atone for our sins and those of our brothers and sisters. We pay a debt contracted with the Infernal Usurer: not with his false money, but with the purest gold of the Passion of Christ. That debt that each of us, in Adam, took on against the will of God and despite having received from Him true wealth, the most inestimable treasure.

This Holy Lent, which we begin today by sprinkling ashes on our heads and fasting, occurs at a time of great social, political, and ecclesial upheavals. With each passing day new truths are coming to light, showing us an apostate society, a corrupt and perverted political class, and a sold-out and treacherous ecclesiastical hierarchy. Those whom we believed were taking care of the common good are now revealed as our enemies and the enemies of God. Those whom we thought should defend the Truth and proclaim the Gospel of Christ are now revealed as the followers of error and lies. And the authority that Our Lord, King and High Priest, has granted to our rulers – both civil and religious – has been used for the very opposite purpose of that for which He established it.

In the face of this global rebellion, and especially in the face of the betrayal of those who hold authority, we must return with greater conviction to clothing our souls in ashes and sackcloth, to prostrating ourselves before the Lord and repeating the cry of our fathers: Flectamus iram vindicem, ploremus ante Judicem; clamemus ore supplici, dicamus omnes cernui: Parce, Domine; parce populo tuo: ne in æternum irascaris nobis. Let us appease the vengeful wrath, let us weep before the Judge; let us call upon Him with a supplicating voice, let us prostrate ourselves and say all together: Forgive, Lord, forgive Your people, and do not remain forever angry with us.

However, precisely because of the enormity of our sins and the horror of the public sins of nations and of the ecclesiastical hierarchy, our penance must be accompanied – and preceded, I would say – by the proclamation of the Truth against lies. Because the Truth is of God; indeed, the Truth is God; and lies are the cursed mark of Satan.

Let all the veils and artifices that seek to conceal sin and vice, to deny it, to give it the appearance of good and virtue, come crashing down. Let all the masks that hide heinous crimes and evildoing in a network of shameful complicities among lost souls – crimes against God and against the little ones, first of all – all fall off. Let the fictions of a rebellious world, the lies of a perverted authority, of an infernal system that denies, offends, and fights against Christ and His children all crumble. Let the lies and deceptions of a Hierarchy and a Papacy held hostage by the enemies of Christ who are enslaved to Satan all be exposed. Let the arguments and excuses that we give all too often to justify our laziness, our spiritual inertia, and our inability to take sides and remain under the banner of our Divine King all come tumbling down. Let all the pretexts that we know how to find in order to postpone our conversion and our progress in holiness all fall down.

This is the hour of darkness, probably. But it is a darkness that is destined to be pierced by the Light of Christ, before which everything will appear as it truly is, and not as we would like it to be, not as would be more convenient to indulge our laziness.

And the first truth to proclaim, to shout from the rooftops, is that we are sinners, that there is a certain death, an irrevocable judgment, a hell to punish the wicked, and a paradise to reward the good. And that this ultimate and indefectible truth is part of our very being, is inscribed in our heart as a Law of nature, is revealed in the Scriptures, and delivered by Our Lord to His Church so that She may faithfully preach it to all peoples.

Let us proclaim this truth without fear of contradiction, remembering the words of the Book of Ecclesiasticus: Memorare novissima tua, et in æternum non peccabis (Sir 7:40), Consider what awaits you, and you will never sin. And so may it be.

+ Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop

5 March MMXXV
Feria IV Cinerum, in capite jejunii