March 6, 2019: Ash Wednesday
March 6, 2019: Ash Wednesday
After 10 years, you would think that if something repeats every year, you would catch on to the pattern. But I just realized this year that the Ash Wednesday scripture readings are the same every year! How’s that for a slow learner! The scriptures from this day which marks the beginning of Lent, urge us to reflect and change the habits that drive a wedge between us and God. We come humbly as children of God--white, black, Asian, Latinos, the poor, the rich, the good, and the bad --to put ashes on our forehead to remind us that we all share a common destination: death and eternal life.
I have not forgotten the funeral I did 10 years ago when a family member handed me their loved one’s cremated remains in a Ziploc bag. It was a stark reminder of the Book of Genesis where God tells Adam after the Fall, “By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread, Until you return to the ground, from which you were taken; For you are dust, and to dust, you shall return. (Genesis 3:19) What a wake-up call for all of us that even though we work so hard to become somebody while we are alive, in the end, we become a handful of dust.
The ashes placed on our forehead in the form of the cross remind us that every moment of our lives must conform to the cross where we die to self and live for Christ. “Into your hands I commend my spirit,” Our Lord said to Heavenly Father on the Cross. This must be our motto for our earthly lives. Jesus taught us to repent, get our lives centered on God, our priorities straight, and cleanse our hearts. As Lent commences, let us ask Jesus for the grace to recommit to our baptismal vows and say to the Father, “Not my will, but Thy will be done.”
After 10 years, you would think that if something repeats every year, you would catch on to the pattern. But I just realized this year that the Ash Wednesday scripture readings are the same every year! How’s that for a slow learner! The scriptures from this day which marks the beginning of Lent, urge us to reflect and change the habits that drive a wedge between us and God. We come humbly as children of God--white, black, Asian, Latinos, the poor, the rich, the good, and the bad --to put ashes on our forehead to remind us that we all share a common destination: death and eternal life.
I have not forgotten the funeral I did 10 years ago when a family member handed me their loved one’s cremated remains in a Ziploc bag. It was a stark reminder of the Book of Genesis where God tells Adam after the Fall, “By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread, Until you return to the ground, from which you were taken; For you are dust, and to dust, you shall return. (Genesis 3:19) What a wake-up call for all of us that even though we work so hard to become somebody while we are alive, in the end, we become a handful of dust.
The ashes placed on our forehead in the form of the cross remind us that every moment of our lives must conform to the cross where we die to self and live for Christ. “Into your hands I commend my spirit,” Our Lord said to Heavenly Father on the Cross. This must be our motto for our earthly lives. Jesus taught us to repent, get our lives centered on God, our priorities straight, and cleanse our hearts. As Lent commences, let us ask Jesus for the grace to recommit to our baptismal vows and say to the Father, “Not my will, but Thy will be done.”
