Ash Wednesday

For many of us, myself included, Lent, is sometimes viewed as an inconvenience.  After all, there is the inconvenience of not eating meat on Ash Wednesday, all of the Friday's of Lent, and of course, you would not think of eating meat on Good Friday.  There is the requirement of fasting.  There is nothing crabbier on this earth than Michael The Lesser when he is hungry.  Luckily, due to my advanced age, I am exempt from fasting. Lent can be very inconvenient indeed.  I remember once when I was a child, about ten years old I would say, my father, took me to the Chicago Auto Show.  We looked at all of the cars and trucks and were amazed at all of the new features that were coming out. Could cars get any more modern?  Well, the time came to have a little snack.  My father, knowing my love of hot dogs bought me a Vienna Weiner - they are about the best hot dog you can get.  It came with all of the trimmings including hot peppers. I took a big bite of the hot dog, enjoying its steamy goodness, the soft steamed bun, the bite of the hot pepper, the taste of the mustard and relish all combined and made me think that this was what heaven had to be like!  As I swallowed that first bite my father, who did not practice any religion, reminded me it was Friday and that I was eating meat. He laughed.  I ran, not walked, to the nearest garbage can and spit the crumbs still in my mouth out and threw the rest of the sandwich into the trash.  My father thought it was hilarious! I was serious about my religion at age ten. So, that is one time when Lent was most inconvenient for me.  I no longer see Lent as an inconvenience, at least most of the time.  I see it as a chance to go on a journey, to walk next to Jesus.  To walk arm in arm with Him as he leads me through the desert of my life.  As we walk he points out improvements I can make and things that I should notice. And all through this journey with Jesus, I am carrying ashes with me. 

Ashes, what a strange thing to use at the start of a journey.  After all, ashes are really not good for a whole lot. As a matter of fact, they are what is left over when something has been completely consumed. Ashes are dirty, they get into everything. They change what was white into something that is gray or even black.  Ashes, why should we carry dirty ashes upon a journey?  And more than that, why should we carry ashes along with us on this most important of journeys?  The ashes we receive on this holy day are a reminder that we too are little more than ashes ourselves. We are reminded that God created us out of the dust and that someday our earthly body will return to dust. When we think of this we should really examine our lives. We brought nothing into this world and we will take nothing out of it. We busy ourselves with the things we think we need. The ashes we receive on this first day of Lent remind us not to value so much the things that decay. It is true, that we need some basic things to stay alive in this world.  We need food, but do we eat too much?  We need water but do we waste this precious commodity?  We need a place to keep ourselves warm but do we need to make a statement by having much more room than we need? We need clothing, but how much do we need? You see, everything that we consider a need is matter and it decays.  The stuff of earth is around just for a little while and then it is gone.  We fight and scramble for the things of this world and when we die, someone else gets all of the things we considered our treasure. Ashes, useless, dry, dirty and dusty ashes serve as a reminder of where we have been and where we are going.  So it is good that we start this Lenten journey with ashes on our forehead.  Maybe we should move those ashes from our forehead to our heart.

When is Home Not A Home?

The vast majority of us are going to end up in a room that is eighty four inches long, twenty eight inches wide and twenty three inches high. These are the dimensions of a standard casket. It will be the home for our bodily remains. When you think of it, that is not much space. The grave we will be placed into will be about six feet deep and three feet across, that is a total of eighteen square feet of mother earth. Inside of the casket we will return to the basic elements that made up our body and eventually they will leach back into the ground. That is a sad ending for us if that was all there was to it. But as we know, there is more, much, much, more.

Nothing that we have here on earth can come with us to heaven. All of the things we worked so hard for here will be taken by someone else. Our land, our home, our books and other possessions will belong to another. 

This world with all of its beauty, with all of its wonder is not the place we are meant to be. The place we are meant for is a place that even if we let our imaginations run wild we cannot really see what the reality of it is. That place of course is heaven, the place where the Lord God dwells along with the angels and saints. 

Our hearts know this. Even people who worship pagan deities know this. Siddhartha begins life experiencing all good things and soon the sweetness turns to bitterness and he looks for fulfillment elsewhere. Famous saints learn this, some the hard way too. St. Francis of Assisi spent his youth enjoying wine women and song. He tries to become a soldier and realizes that this is not as satisfying as he thought it was going to be. Eventually he embraces poverty and he does so as a man embraces a wife and he was faithful to her his whole life. He found satisfaction in serving God and relying on God for all things. 

Surely we must use the things of this earth. We need the basics, food, drink, shelter, companionship for example. Beyond these basic needs do we have to strive for ever more luxuries land and gadgets?  I am not saying that they are evil in themselves, but they can never be ours permanently because one day we will die and we cannot carry the things of this world with us.  

Maybe we should concentrate more on our relationship with God and His kingdom first and then on relationships with our family and friends. These things will come with us. When we get to heaven our relationships will be restored, we will recognize our mother, father, sister, brother, uncles, aunts, grandparents, everyone we ever knew and they will recognize us. I cannot describe what heaven will be like. The only thing I know about it is that no matter how great I think it will be, it will be infinitely better. Is anything on earth worth loosing heaven for?