8/2/2023 0 Comments The journey back questions![]() Yet upon this dust of ours, God blew his Spirit of life. The ashes on our head remind us that we are dust and to dust we will return. It also calls us to return to the Holy Spirit. Once again, the word of God asks us to return to the Father, to return to Jesus. We need Jesus’ healing, we need to present our wounds to him and say: “Jesus, I am in your presence, with my sin, with my sorrows. ![]() We need to imitate that leper, who came back to Jesus and threw himself at his feet. All of us have paralyzing fears that we cannot overcome alone. All of us have deep-seated vices that we cannot uproot alone. All of us have spiritual infirmities that we cannot heal on our own. Although 10 had been healed, he was the only one saved, because he returned to Jesus (cf. Lk 17:12-19). We then need to return to Jesus, like the leper who, once cured, returned to give him thanks. In mentioning Confession, I ask confessors to be like fathers, offering not a rod but an embrace. God’s forgiveness – Confession – is the first step on our return journey. It is the Father’s forgiveness that always set us back on our feet. We have fallen down, like little children who constantly fall, toddlers who try to walk but keep falling and need, time and time again, to be picked up by their father. Like that son, we too have forgotten the familiar scent of our home, we have squandered a precious inheritance on paltry things and have ended up with empty hands and an unhappy heart. We can think of the prodigal son and realize that, for us too, it is time to return to the Father. To embark on this journey, we have to unmask these illusions.īrothers and sisters, our return journey to God is possible only because he first journeyed to us. So it is with us: our journey back to God is blocked by our unhealthy attachments, held back by the seductive snares of our sins, by the false security of money and appearances, by the paralysis of our discontents. During their journey, there was an ever-present temptation to yearn for leeks, to turn back, to cling to memories of the past or to this or that idol. How difficult it was to leave Egypt! It was more difficult for God’s people to leave the Egypt of the heart, that Egypt they carried within them, than to leave the land of Egypt. ![]() These 40 days correspond to the 40 years that God’s people trekked through the desert to return to their homeland. The journey of Lent is an exodus, an exodus from slavery to freedom. Let us ask: Where is my life’s navigation system taking me – toward God or toward myself? Do I live to please the Lord, or to be noticed, praised, put at the head of line…? Do I have a “wobbly” heart, which takes a step forwards and then one backwards? Do I love the Lord a bit and the world a bit, or is my heart steadfast in God? Am I content with my hypocrisies, or do I work to free my heart from the duplicity and falsehood that tie it down? This is the core of Lent: asking where our hearts are directed. Lent is not just about the little sacrifices we make, but about discerning where our hearts are directed. It is a time to reconsider the path we are taking, to find the route that leads us home and to rediscover our profound relationship with God, on whom everything depends. Lent is a journey that involves our whole life, our entire being. Return to me, he says, with all your heart. In this life, we will always have things to do and excuses to offer, but right now, brothers and sisters, right now is the time to return to God. ![]() Right now, however, God is speaking to our hearts. How many times, in our activity or indifference, have we told him: “Lord, I will come to you later, just wait a little… I can’t come today, but tomorrow I will begin to pray and do something for others.” We do this, time and time again. We hear an invitation that arises from the heart of God, who with open arms and longing eyes pleads with us: “Return to me with all your heart” (Joel 2:12). They point out the path we are to follow. We are now embarking on our Lenten journey, which opens with the words of the prophet Joel. The following is the homily of Pope Francis during his Ash Wednesday Mass on February 17. ![]() This season of Lent, Rappler is publishing a series of reflections to help you, our reader, find hope and meaning especially during this pandemic. ![]()
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