Tonight’s Ash Wednesday Mass at Holy Family was very nice. I prefer evening masses in general, but since today is the first of the forty days of Lent–our time of fasting, penance, and reflection–a quiet February evening seems perfect. I think we all can all be thankful that the harsher, more dour practices that over-emphasized our sinful nature are in the past. It is proper that we reflect on our human nature that leaves us susceptible to sin, those actions and thoughts that distance us from God. However, I don’t believe we are called by the Church, and certainly not by God, to become so absorbed in our sinfulness that we miss the whole point of not only Lent but our Christian faith in general; namely, that Christ took our sins upon himself when he ascended the cross. The cross calls us back to God; Christ’s arms stretched upon the cross are those of the Father welcoming His prodigal children. Lent is a time set aside for us to reorient ourselves back to Him who loves us beyond our understanding.
Earlier today I was listening to a podcast on St. Isaac of Syria, also known as St. Isaac of Ninevah. The central point I took away from this 7th-century desert father was that God, above all other things, loves each one of us, individually and collectively. He also says that to call God “just,” in the sense that God administers justice–rewards and punishments–comes dangerously close to blasphemy. God, St. Isaac points out, acts only out of love because He is Love. Just as one cannot avenge oneself, God does not seek vengeance on his own creation. And just as a loving parent doesn’t seek vengeance upon his or her wayward children, so God does not damn us for our sins. This, as St. Isaac explains, is that God that Jesus showed us.
Lent, then, is a time in which we take an open and honest look at ourselves in order to both understand and acknowledge those things we think, say, and do that keep us from God’s loving embrace. As our understanding and acceptance grows, so too should our resolve to turn aside from those things and thereby grow closer to Him. As St. Isaac puts it, “It is a spiritual gift from God for a man to perceive his sins.”
And we also take comfort in knowing that our Father will come running out with open arms to welcome us into His embrace.
