Repent And Believe In The Gospel

It is Ash Wednesday morning. I am in the silent space of my home office now. My forehead is marked with ashes and the words of the blessing reverberate in my mind: “Repent and believe in the Gospel.” Once again, the long 40 days of Lent and the call to enter the desert, to pray, to fast, and to give alms is upon us. It is the season in which we are challenged to take ourselves apart, to go into the room of our heart, to spend time with Jesus in prayer, to confront our own sins, to earnestly repent of them, seeking both God’s loving forgiveness and his generous graces that enable us to live the Gospel openly, joyfully, and with gratitude.

The prophet Joel tells us in the first reading for this Ash Wednesday: “Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning; rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God” (Joel 2: 12-13). He is challenging people to wake up and break out of their habitual ‘business as usual’ way of life, for they are in danger of losing their relationship with God. Is this not good advice for us today? How often do we think of God’s constant faithfulness and generosity toward us in all things? If we did, wouldn’t our hearts overflow with gratitude? Or, do we think of God only when we are in desperate situations?

Paul tells us in 2 Cor. 5: 20-21, 6: 2: “Brothers and sisters: We are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him…Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” This is the holy attitude and awareness that we are to bring to our prayerful efforts during these 40 days of Lent. How often, though, have we wandered away? How often have we been guilty of ignoring the Word of God, or been too busy to pay attention. Are we sometimes guilty of giving God no thought at all? Why return to God? Because He is unconditionally faithful to us; because he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in unfailing love” (Ps. 145:8).

In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus tells the disciples (and us): “Take care not to perform righteous deeds so that people may see them: otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father. When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others” (Mt 6: 1-2). In this time of Lent we are called on to practice the holy virtue of humility, to recognize our temptations to pride. When we pray we are to, “go into our inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees you in secret will repay you.” When we practice humility and detachment from material things; when we selflessly give alms, not looking for praise, we do so seeing the needy as Jesus sees them, not as the world sees and judges them.

During these 40 days of Lent, then, let us turn back to God, let us repent of our sins. Let us commit to the difficult work that is necessary to regularly take ourselves apart into places of solitude and silence to spend quality time in prayerful conversation with Jesus. Let us repent of our sinful ways, break out of our “business as usual” habits, and practice unseen acts of selfless service toward those in need around us. In doing so, our repentance will be sincere and our reward will be great. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.