“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Reflections on the readings for Ash Wednesday (March 2, 2022): JL 2:12-18; PS 51:3-4,5-6,12-13,14,17; 2 COR 5:20-6:2; MT 6:1-6,16-18
MISSIO offers “Mission In Scripture” to nurture a missionary heart, providing reflections on the missionary themes in the readings of Sundays, Feast Days and Holy Days.
God wants us to know Him and, knowing Him, to love Him. Our first parents put themselves first, and so disrupted the Divine plan for our well-being in time and eternity.
Ash Wednesday is the one day of the year that Catholics and many other Christians identify themselves as followers of Jesus, our Savior, not only spiritually, but physically as well. We stand in lines at church awaiting the smudge of black ash to be made on our foreheads in the form of Christ’s cross. Sometimes we are admonished to “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.” Other times, we are reminded -- just as Adam and Eve were as God sent them out of the Garden of Eden -- that we are dust, and we shall return to dust. Mortal flesh and blood though our bodies are, we were created by the Almighty. More than that, we were created for Him. God wants us to know Him and, knowing Him, to love Him. Our first parents put themselves first, and so disrupted the Divine plan for our well-being in time and eternity. But God’s love immeasurably surpasses human sin and selfishness. He would send His Son to spare us from the deadly consequences of our transgressions. Jesus sacrificed Himself to once more open the gates of heaven to us for eternity.
Now we have our own decision to make. Do we repent our sins, offer penance, strive to truly amend our way of life? Some of us have separated ourselves from our Lord for most of our lives. Others have tried to sincerely do whatever He asks of us. Yet we often fail. The Good News is that God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- loves us. He wants us to turn to Him and trust Him. Whatever our mistakes, large or small, God will be there for us, if only we ask. “Even now, says the Lord, return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning; rend your hearts; not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God. For gracious and merciful is He, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment” (Joel 2:12-14). In our misery, shame, grief, we have only to rend our hearts to be embraced by His mercy. God made us to share life everlasting with Him. However much we yearn for Him, He wants each of us more than we can ever know -- until we are together forever.
Suggested missionary action: Let us use Lent as a time to grow closer to God. We can do this through prayer and fasting and by helping our neighbors, particularly those in need. We can reach out through the Pontifical Mission Society to share our love for Christ and His people around the world.
