By Beth DeCristofaro
I have set before you life and death, the blessing and
the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live,
by loving the LORD, your God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him. For
that will mean life for you.
(Deuteronomy 30:19-20)
Then (Jesus) said to all, “If anyone wishes to come after
me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever
wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake
will save it. (Luke 9:23-24)
Piety
For you created me
and shaped me,
Gave me life within my mother's womb.
For the wonder of who I am I praise you:
Safe in your hands, all creation is made new.
Gave me life within my mother's womb.
For the wonder of who I am I praise you:
Safe in your hands, all creation is made new.
(from God
You Search Me, Bernadette Farrell,
based on Psalm 139)
Study
As ashes were
inscribed on my forehead during Ash Wednesday Mass yesterday, tears came to my
eyes. The ancient words, “Remember thou
are dust and unto dust you will return” convey a deep truth and mystery. They become poignant with the passing of the
years. Another Lenten journey to draw
closer and closer to God through the desert of our lives. Another reminder of the passing of mortal
time as we look at the ripening lives of our children and growing frailty of
our parents. We are aware in new ways of
the incompleteness of our own hopes and dreams. The words deliver at the same
time the truth that life in Christ is richer, deeper, more timeless than
anything we can imagine for ourselves. He
chose and gave us that life.
But I also heard in
these words, “dust to dust” the awe inspiring and tear inducing truth that my
dust – your dust too – is precious. This
“mortal coil” was shaped and quickened in the image of the Creator because God wanted
me and you to live, to love, to praise, and to share the journey to God with
the rest of God’s creation. My “dust” is
precious. Your “dust” is precious. May we every day live purposefully, learning
to love as God loves.
Action
Jesus accepted and
became dust just like me. He loved
extravagantly to the cross and beyond.
Our tears of mortality and eternity are gifts from our Redeemer. During Lent, what cross might I accept with
just a bit more love, a bit more life than I have been willing to do before?
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