Reading through the gospel for Ash Wednesday, I was struck by a recurring theme. It was not repentance, though that is what we usually think of at the start of Lent. It was the repeated sentence: "And your Father who sees in secret will repay you." (Mt 6:4)
The sentence reminds us of what is important, the inside. This is an interesting twist, as Ash Wednesday usually draws large numbers who are eager and intent on receiving those coveted ashes. I sometimes wonder, what do people expect from those ashes? Salvation? Or perhaps they are trying to remember that life has another side, a spiritual side. But remembering is not enough.
Externals can give only so much comfort and grace. Ashes, like all sacramental, are merely outward signs. The intention of outward signs is to remind us of eternal truths. To profit from those truths, we must make them real for ourselves.
I suggest that this lent, let us take the externals like fasting, sacrifices, and extra prayers, and turn them inside by concentrating on our being, on our intentions. Let us not be content with ashes. Let us step into more silence and meditation. Let us make for ourselves a quiet corner this Lent, one where we can sit in secret and think about God. One where we transform eternal truths into our very being. Then, we can discover just what the God who sees in secret will give us as reward. I suspect it is probably the Divine Being himself.
No comments:
Post a Comment