why am I here?

Homily

Ash Wednesday

14 February 2024

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

AMDG

Why am I here?  I don't have to be here today, and neither do you.  So why is everybody here?

For me, this is always the best question for Ash Wednesday, especially at KU.  Because today, everyone's first choice is to be here, even if it's Valentine's Day and the Chiefs SuperBowl parade is on.  Everyone wants to know why - why is Mass everyone's first choice on Ash Wednesday?

This day marks the greatest marketing strategy in Catholic history, apparently.  Come get free dirt, and free insults.  Of all the things we offer at St. Lawrence - community, entertainment, formation, prayer, and yes, even FREE BEER - you prefer to get all those things elsewhere better.

So what gives?   Today the Catholic Church apparently solves a unique problem for you, and gives you precisely what you most need.  Believe it or not, that's free dirt and free insults, letting a stranger remind you that you're not that great and you're gonna die real soon. 

What a strange, strange day.

I'm so glad we are here together the play the game of life for keeps. Still what gives? Why am I here?

The more I pray about it, I think it's honesty!  Jesus speaks so honestly directly to my heart in today's Gospel.  He gives voice to how exhausted I am with pretense, hypocrisy, fakeness and artificiality.  He knows I need more honesty to live from the inside out, to be more fully human and more alive.  He knows my heart, that getting along and getting by and getting away will never be good enough.

Here's what I'll say - every time I go to Mass, I get an honest encounter with someone who is real with me, and truthful, and who loves me better than anyone else because He reveals to me honestly who I am, and who He is, and the life we are meant to share together.  I know this much - every time I go to Mass I am able to live more honestly.  I know that Mass is the conversion and transformation I was made for.

Why am I here?  Because Jesus through the Mass has invited me to the most honest lifelong and lifegiving conversation I can possibly have?

Why am I here?  Because He solves a problem for me, and provides what I most need.  Yes, even by throwing dirt and shouting an insult, He invites me to more than what I'm afraid of, and what I've settled for.

That's why of all the places I could be, it's my #1 choice today and always, to be here.