Wednesday
February 21, 2018
1st Week of Lent
First Reading: Jon 3:1-10 Gospel Reading: Lk 11:29-32
As the crowd increased, Jesus began to speak in this way, “People of the present time are evil people. They ask for a sign, but no sign will be given to them except the sign of Jonah. As Jonah became a sign for the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be a sign for this generation. The Queen of the South will rise up on Judgment Day with the people of these times and accuse them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and here there is greater than Solomon. The people of Nineveh will rise up on Judgment Day with the people of these times and accuse them, for Jonah’s preaching made them turn from their sins, and here there is greater than Jonah.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE (Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
Repentance may be as urgent to us as it was to the Ninevites if only to hold back the hand of an indignant God. Last Ash Wednesday we signified our desire to repent by imposing ashes upon our foreheads. Throughout this season of Lent there are practices that dispose our selves to repentance. The Church recommends Almsgiving, Silence, Humility, Expiation and Social responsibility. For better recall the acronym to remember is ASHES.
ALMSGIVING covers a multitude of sins. Maximus of Turin imagined almsgiving as a fountain of salvation that douses the flame that had been kindled by sinning (Sermon 22.1, CCSL, 23). SILENCE is also important during Lent. Just as silence provides for the proper environment for any word to convey meaning, so silence is necessary to impart meaning to one’s lifestyle. This goes with the virtue of HUMILITY because proud people are always loud and noisy. In a humble person silence creates a vacuum that sucks in so much grace from above. Humility takes him low enough to maximize transfer of grace. If one assumes a position higher than the heavens, no transfer happens since grace, like water, seeks the lowest level. It moves only by the gravity of love.
Lent is also the best time to do EXPIATION, that is, paying for sins. While it is true that expiation is still possible after death though the cleansing sufferings at purgatory, time makes the big difference.
Once we cross the threshold of death time assumes the cadence of eternity. It takes shorter time to do it on earth, and it even goes faster if one gives it a SOCIAL DIMENSION by helping others improve their lives.
In this season of Lent let us purify ourselves with these “ashes” to manifest sincere repentance not just for the purpose of holding back the hand of God but for love of him. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: [email protected].
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