One of the things I have always enjoyed seeing in North America in general is the porch of every house.
Unlike in our country, houses rarely have a porch or if ever they have one, it is so small and negligible. All we have is the front door with a doormat in front where you wipe off dirt from your feet. Here in North America, a porch is so necessary even in buildings because of the winter season that could be harsh sometimes. A porch is like a "clearing section" or a "quarantine area" before one could finally enter into a house or an establishment.
Ash Wednesday may be referred to as "the porch of Lent" because it is the small door leading to the great doors of five Sundays of this Season that open to the mother of all feasts in the Church which is the Season of Easter.
Such an imagery of Ash Wednesday as "the porch of Lent" is so beautiful considering that every Lenten Season is a journey back into our home in God our Father as a family.
"...But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your FAther in secret. And your Father in secret will repay you" (Matt.6:6).
A lot of things have happened with each of us since Christmas and all we could feel now is our drifting away from God and others due to our many sins and failures. And let's admit it---some of us were trapped within the artificialities of the joyful season of Christmas wherein we were focused more with superficial things like gifts and parties than with the more essential things like Jesus Christ Himself and His gift of love.
At the porch of Lent, on this Ash Wednesaday, Jesus instructs us to "go into your inner room" to meet God Himself, just with our bare selves minus the many trappings of excuses and alibis we always put on whenever we would delay our coming home.
A lot often, we refuse to come home because we feel inadequate---we have no gifts to bring, or pocket money to spend or simply anything to have a wonderful homecoming.
When God invites us into Himself, into His house, He is not after what we could bring or brag before Him---all He wants is simply us because we are more precious for Him than anything else. That is why Jesus was very clear in telling us to always do good works in secret because the Father exactly knows who we are. He could not be swayed by other people's comments or recommendations. We don't have to be somebody before Him because He had long been loving us even if we were nothing.
The prophet Joel said it succinctly "rend your hearts, not your garments" (Joel 2:13). Simply come as yourself before God and He would still welcome you because He loves you. This explains the reason too why our altar and liturgy are bare.
That ash on our foreheads shaped as a Cross reminds us that despite our worthlessness like the ash, we are so precious before God because even His very own Son had to give up Himself on the Cross for us to be back home with the Father.
The season of Lent is one big homecoming that invites us not only to come and experience God in Himslef but also to find God among others. Nobody comes home for himself and by himself. When we come home, we come to be with our parents and also with our siblings, with our relatives and friends, with our neighbors and even with our past memories because all these were part of who and what have shaped us with the blessings of God.
In Lent, we not only experience God in Himself but also His visible sign on earth which is the Church, the community of believers.
What is the use of believing in God and professing our faith when we are far from members of the Church, when we see them with mistrust. St Paul admonishes us in the same manner he had called on the Corinthians of his time to be "reconciled to God" (2Cor.5:20) so as "not to receive the grace of God in vain" (2Cor.5:6).
The Lord is giving us 40 days beginning today to come home and be with the Father and experience His great mercy and love for each one of us as an individual and as a community. Forget your excuses, He had welcomed you already by allowing you to stand at the porch of Lent. Come in through the five doors of this Lenten season.
Unlike in our country, houses rarely have a porch or if ever they have one, it is so small and negligible. All we have is the front door with a doormat in front where you wipe off dirt from your feet. Here in North America, a porch is so necessary even in buildings because of the winter season that could be harsh sometimes. A porch is like a "clearing section" or a "quarantine area" before one could finally enter into a house or an establishment.
Ash Wednesday may be referred to as "the porch of Lent" because it is the small door leading to the great doors of five Sundays of this Season that open to the mother of all feasts in the Church which is the Season of Easter.
Such an imagery of Ash Wednesday as "the porch of Lent" is so beautiful considering that every Lenten Season is a journey back into our home in God our Father as a family.
"...But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your FAther in secret. And your Father in secret will repay you" (Matt.6:6).
A lot of things have happened with each of us since Christmas and all we could feel now is our drifting away from God and others due to our many sins and failures. And let's admit it---some of us were trapped within the artificialities of the joyful season of Christmas wherein we were focused more with superficial things like gifts and parties than with the more essential things like Jesus Christ Himself and His gift of love.
At the porch of Lent, on this Ash Wednesaday, Jesus instructs us to "go into your inner room" to meet God Himself, just with our bare selves minus the many trappings of excuses and alibis we always put on whenever we would delay our coming home.
A lot often, we refuse to come home because we feel inadequate---we have no gifts to bring, or pocket money to spend or simply anything to have a wonderful homecoming.
When God invites us into Himself, into His house, He is not after what we could bring or brag before Him---all He wants is simply us because we are more precious for Him than anything else. That is why Jesus was very clear in telling us to always do good works in secret because the Father exactly knows who we are. He could not be swayed by other people's comments or recommendations. We don't have to be somebody before Him because He had long been loving us even if we were nothing.
The prophet Joel said it succinctly "rend your hearts, not your garments" (Joel 2:13). Simply come as yourself before God and He would still welcome you because He loves you. This explains the reason too why our altar and liturgy are bare.
That ash on our foreheads shaped as a Cross reminds us that despite our worthlessness like the ash, we are so precious before God because even His very own Son had to give up Himself on the Cross for us to be back home with the Father.
The season of Lent is one big homecoming that invites us not only to come and experience God in Himslef but also to find God among others. Nobody comes home for himself and by himself. When we come home, we come to be with our parents and also with our siblings, with our relatives and friends, with our neighbors and even with our past memories because all these were part of who and what have shaped us with the blessings of God.
In Lent, we not only experience God in Himself but also His visible sign on earth which is the Church, the community of believers.
What is the use of believing in God and professing our faith when we are far from members of the Church, when we see them with mistrust. St Paul admonishes us in the same manner he had called on the Corinthians of his time to be "reconciled to God" (2Cor.5:20) so as "not to receive the grace of God in vain" (2Cor.5:6).
The Lord is giving us 40 days beginning today to come home and be with the Father and experience His great mercy and love for each one of us as an individual and as a community. Forget your excuses, He had welcomed you already by allowing you to stand at the porch of Lent. Come in through the five doors of this Lenten season.
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