March 2011

My brothers and sisters in Christ,

Today we are entering a new Liturgical Season, one of penance and sacrifices. Together, we have gathered here to celebrate “Ash Wednesday,” the first of forty days of the Lenten Season that precedes Easter.

Today, on Ash Wednesday we start preparation for the joy of Easter that approaches.

Today we call upon the mercy of the Lord Jesus, asking Him for His blessings, forgiveness and best preparation during Lent for Easter.

During Lent, through the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, we are going to prepare ourselves to celebrate the death and glorious Resurrection of Jesus Christ our Savior.

My dear brothers and sisters

As we heard during today’s First Reading from the Book of Joel, the Lord God calls upon us to return to Him with all our hearts, with fasting, weeping and mourning. To practice sincere repentance, the Lord God tells us to change our hearts. We are called to examine our most inner self, those evil ways that we have to let go, once and for always.

During today’s Second Reading from the Second Letter to the Corinthians, we heard St. Paul appealing to us on behalf of Jesus to be reconciled to God. God the Father sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us on the cross. He who was without sin took our place and was treated as a sinner, so we might become righteous in the eyes of God. Now is the time for us to show our appreciation to the Lord God by walking in His righteousness so we may inherit the salvation that we have asked of Him and which He is granting to us through His infinite love and mercy.

How do we walk in righteousness?

Jesus answered that question during today’s Reading from the Gospel of Matthew.

It is not by continuing in our worldly ways. It is by embracing a spiritual mind so we may mature in Christ by the grace of God the Father and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus warns us against hypocrisy, our piety must manifest private time between the Lord God and ourselves. We must walk with Christ in our lives every minute of the day, from the time we rise in the morning until the time we go to bed at night.

My friends

The church asks us today, at the beginning of Lent to renew our own lives in the great spiritual works of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving and listen to the advice of Jesus in today’s gospel. Today we try to begin and we receive the ashes as a sign that we are willing to undertake the gospel way of life. When we receive the ashes we hear again the first words of Jesus in Mathew’s gospel: Repent and be faithful to the gospel. So let us begin our lent.

In today’s Gospel Jesus said to his disciples: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.”

My brothers and sisters in Christ, there is a contrast given to us today between the person who takes the word of God into his heart and soul and acts on it and the person who simply speaks the word of God but does not live it.

Those who take the word of God into their heart and soul and walk in the way of the Lord, they will receive God’s blessings and will inherit His Heavenly Kingdom. Those who only speak the word of God but do not live it; will not inherit God’s Kingdom. God’s warning is as clear as black and white, there are no grey areas.

Today’s First Reading from the Book of Deuteronomy reminds us that today is the day to make a final decision.

I set before you here, this day, a blessing and a curse: a blessing for obeying the commandments of the Lord, your God, which I enjoin on you today; a curse if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord, your God, but turn aside from the way I ordain for you today, to follow other gods, whom you have not known.

Today, we must decide if we will walk with God according to His Commandments or against God, contrary to His Commandments. This means that we must be living models of the Christian faith, practicing what we learn from Jesus’ preaching in the Gospel. In Christ, there is one life, one way and one truth.

The Letter to the Romans, from which comes our second reading, puts its focus on faith: we consider that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. We could ask a question very similar to one that Jesus poses elsewhere: who has faith? The one who does the works of faith or the one who only speaks about it?

The Gospel of Matthew today is about belief and faith. Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?’” The Gospel tells us that doing great work is not enough. Even doing great work in the name of the Lord is not enough. We must believe from our hearts and souls.

So today we are invited to become followers of Christ in a totally committed way, both believing and doing. Doing, by itself, is not good enough. Believing without acting on the belief is not belief. Let us believe as well as practice faith by our actions and deeds in our every day life!