"Repent"
On
this Ash Wednesday we enter into the holy season of lent, a season of grace, of
hope and joy. We mark our foreheads with ashes proclaiming a time of fasting,
prayer and almsgiving. The minister imposes the ashes with the words, “Repent
and believe the Gospel”(Mark 1:15).
What do we think of when we hear the word
“repent”?
Do we almost automatically think of our sins and bad habits, of the
need to be sorry for our sins, of the hard work before us to break our bad
habits?
The word literally means, “to think beyond the way we think now, to
turn around and think in a different way”.
According to Fr.
Michael Kelly SJ, “The call to repentance by Jesus, and the real call of Lent, is
to take a new look at God, to refresh our image of him. It is to come to a
vivid realization that God loves us now, as we are, and before ever we change.
The
main thing in Lent is not that we should do things for God but that we should
become more aware of how much God is doing for us.
Each day we want to see more
and more that God loves us powerfully, unfailingly, permanently.
In the words
of today’s first reading, we want to bring home to ourselves that God is all
tenderness and compassion, rich in graciousness and ready to relent.
The
real repentance of Lent is to turn and look into the eyes of Jesus and see
there how much he loves us, how totally forgiving he is. It is to let God be
God in every aspect of our lives. And from this new awareness of God’s love
there comes the power to turn our backs on sin, to turn away from what is wrong
and to embrace with our whole being all that is good.
How
can we bring about this new awareness into our lives during this season of
lent?
We must desire for a deeper spiritual breakthrough at this time.
To
achieve this goal we embark on the spiritual practices of fasting, prayer and
generous giving as instructed by Jesus in the Gospel. Jesus did not say “if you
fast, if you pray, if you do almsgiving” but “when you do.”
These are not
optional add-ons to our spiritual lives. Instead these vital practices help us
break away from our self-centered and self-indulgent mindsets.
Self-denial
multiplied by prayer and generous giving open our eyes to God’s love and our
desire to care for other people.
According to St. Leo the Great, these practices
will bring heavenly and earthly rewards like ‘deeper relationship with God,
greater freedom from sin, and a renewed concern for the needs of the poor in
our midst.’
So it is a time to break away from our routine to embrace such
practices that will help us focus more on God than our ‘selfie’ world.
So are
you ready for this journey to encounter the God of mercy in Jesus?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAuB-3V46zk
Dust & Ashes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxGnC60udLc&index=4&list=PLR3stWh4yqbqFnqcNbRS8mhYtc5ugkFn5
Come Back to Me:
No comments:
Post a Comment
Dear Friends....
Please share with us your comments of our
Daily Reflections.
How has it touched you?
How has it helped you in your Lenten journey?
You may post your comment here
or confidently share with me
@
E-Mail it to us at
lasaletteshrinedirector@gmail.com