Ash Wednesday
February 10, 2016
Jl
2:12-18 // II Cor 5:20-6:2 // Mk 6:1-6, 16-18
It is so cold
outside and we all know that this winter is only half way reached, yet I want
to call this day as the first day of spring- first day of spiritual spring. Some
of you may think in your mind- you have to correct yourself, that this is the
first day of thinking on fish fry! Those who are thinking in that line, may I
say that I am not totally against you. But something more than our physical
appetite is reflected during this whole season of Lent, which will produce the
fruits of new hope, optimism and new directions in our Journey. That is why, I
named this day as the first day of Spiritual Spring.
We have passions
and desires. May be for someone of us these passions, dreams and desires are
the reasons to live. A life without dreams and desires are unimaginable. The
material growth and the prosperity that we enjoy today in our society is the
realization of the dreams and desires of our ancestors. It is also an
undeniable truth that we have a holy desire deep within our heart. A holy
desire for God. Because of our daily burdens of our life, we keep aside this
holy desire, thinking that we can look into it at some other time. Lent is the
time to take a look at your holy desire. In fact, St. Augustine, one of the most
important church fathers, says that the Christian life is an exercise of holy
desire. It does not demand us to uproot our natural desires, but to raise and
purify them. Our desires are too small if our
ultimate values are those of this world; We have experience or is experiencing,
even when I fulfill the brim of my desires, I am not so happy. What does it
mean? It proves to us that we have some higher desires which makes us ease,
peaceful and joyous. During this Lent we tune in to these higher desires, to
deep-down our longing for God.
I am really positive that the social group with the help of
professional crew will serve best possible fish fry at our Saffin center. But
imagine if I don’t have an appetite for eating, does the food that is served to
give me any good?
Lenten Season is the greatest season that one can cultivate
values and virtues in one’s life. But if we don’t possess a spiritual appetite,
it will not turn to me any good. So we need to sharpen our spiritual appetite,
so that we can turn some good out of this season.
So let us be serious with our traditional triple ways: Prayer,
Fasting and alms giving. This is the spirit of today’s Gospel and the spirit of
Lenten season. Prayer will satisfy our longing for God and mend our
relationship with him, Fasting will sharpen our spiritual appetite for God and
Alms giving will help us to open our eyes to our brothers and sisters and
realize that I am not alone in this world.
May your longing for God be deepened during this season of
Lent.
Fr. Tony Vattaparambil
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