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.