Ash Wednesday 2016

I - Awake My Soul 

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the holy season of Lent. Lent is a time for spiritual renewal and spiritual awakening.

In one of the verses of the song called Let Us Build The City of God, we sing: “Awake from your slumber, arise from your sleep, a new day is dawning, for all those who sleep.”

Admittedly, some of us don't need an alarm clock to wake up because sleeping and waking is already part of our natural rhythm. However, some of us need the instrument to wake us up. Otherwise, we keep on sleeping and miss out on all the wonderful things that each new day offers. Just like our body, our soul needs rest, and also needs to be awaken.

And what does the soul need to be awaken to? It could be making changes to some of our behaviors and actions. So that it reflects a person who believes in God, is connected to God and has room for God in their lives.

Maybe, it's being awaken to the gift of appreciation. To appreciate and be thankful for the gift of life, all it's goodness, the gift of relationships and friendships.

Perhaps is to allow the Holy Spirit to awake our soul, for the Holy Spirit to enkindle in us or ignite the fire of God's love within us. It is being awaken to the mystery of God's presence and God's love that sustains our very life.

Romans 13:11b, 12-13a

It is now the hour for you to wake from sleep. The night is far spent; the day draws near. Let us cast off deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us live honorably as in daylight.

The Psalm says: “Awake my soul, awake lyre and harp, with praise, let us awake the dawn.

The theme of waking up is very much present throughout all of scriptures. For those of us who are spiritually asleep, Lent is a time to wake up. It is a time for spiritual awakening.

II - Penitential Season

Lent is a penitential season. In other words, we focus on doing more penances.  There are three types of penances: prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Forms of prayer are: Mass, Rosary or other devotions, spending time with Sacred Scriptures. Forms of fasting are: offering up something like giving up a meal, or do something less in regards to the things you like to do such as watching less television, or less snacking on certain foods. This is to allow room in our life for Almighty God. The third type of penance is almsgiving, or giving alms, which is to make donations to help the Church or to help those in need. It's a time to turn our life to God.

Jesus says: “When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet, or do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” In other words, when we do kinds of penances, we try not to draw attention to the good deeds.

For us humans, however, we have a built in mechanism of attracting attention. Even as infants, when in need, we will scream or yell so that we attract attention from our parents. In business, we attract attention to the products or things we work on so that we can sell those items. If we are running for president, we also have to draw people's attention to the things that we can do as a leader by making necessary changes. We try to be attractive and draw attention from others by the way we dress, or our hair, or makeup, etc.

The Lord's teaching and philosophy is not so much about calling people's attention, but more so about the reason and motivations for why we do good deeds. What are some of the reasons behind why we do works of penances.

If we focus simply on drawing people's attentions to these kinds of things, then the attention is giving to what others can see on the outside. If our heart does not correspond to our actions and behavior, then it is in vain do we practice the penance. The prophet Joel emphasized this by saying: “Rend your hearts, not your garments. Turn to God with all your heart.”

If the works of penance are merely to seek attention from others, then it can resort to merely acting or putting on a show for others to see. Whereas the heart hasn't changed and is still far from God. How interesting that our behavior can mask what is on the inside. But still, the heart cannot be hidden from God.

Furthermore, in our works of penance (prayer, fasting and almsgiving) we try not to draw people's attention necessarily, but more so to call the attention from God. We want God's attention. In that sense, our motivations and intentions are done with a purity of heart.

“And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.”

May the Ashes on our foreheads today be a sign, not necessarily to draw other people's attention, but to convey an inner heart that is contrite, a heart that is humble and knows that it needs God, a heart that is pure in intentions, a heart that seeks only for God's attention. May the Lord bless you throughout these forty days.