Today we begin the season of Lent. It is 40 days of preparation for the celebration of the paschal mystery of the Lord Jesus, His passion-death-resurrection-ascension, which is the principal saving mystery. 

According to Vatican II, Christ the Lord “achieved his work of redeeming mankind and giving perfect glory to God principally by the paschal mystery of his passion, resurrection, and ascension.”

Lent begins today and extends to Holy Thursday evening, ending when the Mass of the Lord’s Supper begins. The celebration of the paschal triduum (Holy Thursday evening to Easter Sunday) climaxes the Christian liturgical year.

What characterizes Ash Wednesday for most Catholics is the imposition of the ashes.  Catholics wear the ashes proudly on Ash Wednesday, and most adult Catholics, even those who do not go to church regularly, go to church on this day to receive the ashes.

The imposition of the ashes is a very meaningful gesture. It is accompanied by the words pronounced by the priest or the minister, “Repent, and be faithful to the gospel,”  or, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.”

Thus, Lent begins with a call to repentance, which is not a feeling but a radical change of mind, heart, and action. The Greek word, metanoiete, which  translates the Lord’s call at the beginning of his public ministry, literally means, “change of mind” or change of the way of seeing things, but it includes a change of attitude and behavior, a turning away from sin and a turning towards the Lord.         This is the reason why the liturgy calls Lent “this joyful season.”  For in truth, sin makes us sad, though it masquerades as happiness for the sinner. Every temptation to sin is a temptation to seek happiness in what is forbidden by the Lord.

Sin always fails to deliver on its promise. It brings not happiness but sadness, because in truth, we can find happiness only in the will of God. Jesus rightly says, “Happy are those who hear the word of God and do it.”

Hence, when we turn away from sin, we turn from what makes us unhappy. And when we turn to God, we turn to him who alone can make us truly happy, and in whose will is our peace, as so beautifully remarked by  Dante Allighieri, the great Italian poet.

It is unfortunate that the rite of imposition of ashes has become only a customary ritual for many Catholics. Many of us do not feel in our bones and hearts the sting and attractiveness of the Lord’s call to repentance. 

And so it becomes business as usual again the Thursday after Ash Wednesday. If only all Catholics would take Ash Wednesday seriously, all graft and corruption in the Philippines would be cut in half immediately.

The Lord wants to attract us to repentance not so much by frightening us but by reminding us of His love and mercy. Indeed the Lord will forgive any sin provided we repent. And it is He Himself who seeks us out even when we run away from him. It is He who bothers our consciences and moves us to repent. He is more eager to forgive us than we are to repent. He delights in forgiving us. The liturgy says this in one of the Sunday prayers: “O God, you show Your almighty power above all by pardoning and sparing from punishment . . .”

Let us take advantage of this season of Lent to heed the voice of the Lord.  Let us, each and all, leave our selfishness behind and turn to the love of the Lord. If we heed His voice, we shall experience peace, and our country will be renewed and progress.