Ashes to Ashes...

Today is the beginning of the Lenten Season. Ash Wednesday is the day when we place on our foreheads a cross from the ashes of burnt palms (used the previous Palm Sunday). Years back I remember the priest intoning, "Remember you are dust, and unto dust you shall return." Nowadays, we hear instead the words, "Turn away from sin and believe in the gospel." The words currently used upon the imposition of ashes connote an aspect of grace and an invitation.


Looking at the mark on my forehead, I am reminded of the fact that indeed it is by the cross that I am saved and it is when I choose to turn away from occasions of sin, to believe in the good news that I am now a child of God that true salvation is mine. It is hard to battle the demons within especially the demons that wish to convince us that we are beyond redemption or saving. In a twisted form, such self-abasement and self-hatred seems to me at times, another form of pride. "I am too bad to be saved. I am beyond forgiveness. I am such a failure. There is no hope for a schmuck like me." One has already judged oneself to be beyond God's infinite love and mercy. Only God is the rightful judge. Scripture is fraught with verses upon verses that speak of God's infinite compassion, mercy and love -- that compels him to seek out the lost and rejoice at the return of every sinner.Yet there are those that are genuinely sincere in their realization of their nothingness. I guess its really God who can determine which is which. After all, He's the one who can see into the very heart of things.


Lent is a time of grace. A time indeed to remember our nothingness but at the same time a season by which we realize that an invitation to go back home is also given. Lent is the season by which homecomings are joyfully celebrated, where every prodigal son is once again recognized as a child of God.

May all of us continue to hope in the Love that God offers. Hope in it enough to have the courage to head back home.