“God Desires Our Hearts” by Colleen O’Sullivan

“God Desires Our Hearts” by Colleen O’Sullivan

Ash Wednesday

Even now, says the LORD, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning; Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the LORD, your God.  For gracious and merciful is he, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment. (Joel 2:12-13)

We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.  For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.  (2 Corinthians 5:20b-21)

Jesus said to his disciples: “Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father.  (Matthew 6:1)

Piety

Rend Your Heart
A Blessing for Ash Wednesday

-          Jan L. Richardson

To receive this blessing,
all you have to do
is let your heart break.
Let it crack open.
Let it fall apart
so that you can see
its secret chambers,
the hidden spaces
where you have hesitated
to go.

Your entire life
is here, inscribed whole
upon your heart’s walls:
every path taken
or left behind,
every face you turned toward
or turned away,
every word spoken in love
or in rage,
every line of your life
you would prefer to leave
in shadow,
every story that shimmers
with treasures known
and those you have yet
to find.

It could take you days
to wander these rooms.
Forty, at least.

And so, let this be
a season for wandering
for trusting the breaking
for tracing the tear
that will return you

to the One who waits
who watches
who works within
the rending
to make your heart
whole.

(from The Painted Prayerbook, ©Jan Richardson)

Study

When I look in the mirror today, I see the ashes and remember the palms they came from, the palms the crowd waved as Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Echoes of the hosannas and other shouts of acclamation ring in my ears.  But where were the crowds later that week? No one waved palms; no one even stayed awake as Jesus prayed to his Father in the Garden of Gethsemane. No one waved anything; no hosannas rang out, no one even admitted to knowing Jesus in the courtyard of the high priest. No one saw palms on Good Friday; few people even bothered to make the trek to Golgotha with Jesus.  

These palms-become-ashes are a reminder to me of the many ways in my life I have let Jesus down, denied him, or betrayed him. The ashes are an ancient symbol of the need for repentance and atonement. God says:  All I ask of you is your heart. That’s it.  It sounds so easy, yet our hearts are the hardest thing of all to give up, to crack open. We zealously guard the inner workings of our hearts, lest we reveal who we truly are.  

There is no reason to fear opening ourselves to God. God is calling to you and me:  Come back to me. Even now, no matter what you’ve done or how far you’ve strayed, return to me with all your heart. I am gracious and merciful. I look forward to your homecoming with joyful anticipation. I am waiting with open arms to embrace you, to kill the fatted calf, and celebrate your return.

Action

God invites us to use the season of Lent as the time to divest ourselves of whatever keeps us from accompanying Jesus on his journey to Jerusalem, being with him through his passion and death, and sharing with him in the joy of his Resurrection.

There is a multitude of ways to observe Lent – fasting, prayer, and giving to the poor are three that Jesus mentions in today’s Gospel reading.There are also many online resources to choose from on https://www.ignatianspirituality.com/lent/.