Reflection on Saturday after Ash Wed, 25 February 2023
During these past few days we feel we were being introduced by the Church’s Liturgy to enter more fully into the spirit of Lent. Last Wednesday we began the season with the imposition of ashes on our foreheads. And from the gospel proclaimed that day we heard Jesus’ teachings on what the Church is proposing to us as our Lenten program, namely, prayer, fasting and almsgiving. I believe what Jesus wanted to tell us was that from the very start of this forty-day journey ahead of us, we must have a clear focus and purpose in mind. He wants that as we strive to observe these three pious practices, we should do them wholeheartedly not for people to see, but rather for God, and God alone.
Then, from the gospel proclaimed last Thursday we heard Jesus teaching us once again this time about the much clearer focus we should have in mind during these forty days of Lent, that is, the Paschal Mystery. This means that our fervent prayers, our self-denial, and our charitable deeds during this Lenten season should actually be aimed at preparing ourselves spiritually for the celebration of the Lord’s passion, death and resurrection six weeks from now when the Easter Triduum comes.
In addition to that, in yesterday’s gospel, Jesus gave us some more reasons why we really need to observe the above mentioned religious practices. The first reason is that we are sinful, and the second is that God is merciful. First, because of our sins we have broken our relationship with God. And second – this is the good news – because of God’s boundless mercy and unconditional love we have the sure hope of being forgiven. For in fact Jesus came not only as our longed-for Saviour to redeem us from eternal death but also as the ultimate Bridegroom to restore our communion with the Father for all eternity. When we fast from sin and from material things that we really do not need, we actually increase our hunger for God and our longing for his spiritual blessings; and hence we also increase our capacity to give to the poor and the needy. Then the Bridegroom will return much sooner than we expect in order to end our fasting and begin the feasting.
Finally, in the Gospel we heard today, Jesus shows us a concrete example of one penitent sinner who made a surprising return to the Lord. His name was Matthew, the tax collector. Matthew must have been filthy rich because of his job of collecting big taxes from his fellow Jews on behalf of the Roman imperialists. However despite his abundant wealth he must have felt sad and empty within him because of his sins which kept him separated from God and alienated from the Jewish community. The good news is that one day he finally reached a turning point in his life. He suddenly experienced meeting Jesus face to face calling him from his post with the words “Come follow me.” Immediately Matthew got up, left everything behind and followed Jesus. And from then on he felt a different kind of joy, some extraordinary feeling he never felt all his past life. His resolute decision to fast from sin could not but lead him to feast on God’s mercy.
During this season, may we too be gifted and graced with the same kind of conversion St. Matthew experienced when he met Jesus. What a joy!
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