When ashes are imposed on us today, you and I might hear the words, “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.” We embrace Lenten discipline in the hope that, turning from attachments “to things low and earthly” (St. Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises, no.317) to the Good News, we will accept Jesus’ invitation to walk with him on the road to salvation.
There will still be a fearsome cup to drink. Jesus warned James and John in their ambition for a privileged place with him in the Kingdom: “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I drink…?” (Mark 10:38). Their naïve reply, “We can” (Mark 10:39), did yield from Jesus a promise that they would drink the cup, but his own anguish before drinking the cup portioned out to him laid bare the foolishness of their reply.
In the garden of Gethsemane Jesus recoiled at the prospect of drinking from the cup of suffering: “Abba, Father, all things are possible to you. Take this cup away from me, but not what I will but what you will” (Mark 14:36). Still, in his innocence he drained the cup for us.
This cup is none other than the cup of his Passion: “Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them: ‘This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many’” (Mark 14:23-24). In this cup lies our salvation. In Lent we prepare for the great celebration of the Paschal Mystery, the Mystery of the dying and rising of the Lord and of us in him, the Mystery of Easter, the Lord’s answer to the cup of suffering and death.
When at the Eucharist we drink from the cup, we approach in fear and trembling, yes, but we come in joy and hope: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). In the words of Saint Paul, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). May we know the spiritual springtime to which the root of the very word “Lent” points.
