As we are signed today with the ashes that call us to repentance
and hear the words "you are dust and unto dust you shall return", let
us remember our connectedness to all of creation. The New Science
tells us that our bodies are made of the same stuff as the stars. The
atoms of which we are made are the same as those in the stars. They were
actually created within the stars more than 13 billion years ago and those same
particles/energy waves have been recycled over and over for 13 billion
years. Our bodies may contain some of the same energy
particles as our ancestors, Jesus, Francis of Assisi, flowers, birds, and
much more. These ponderings bring us to a truth that is hard for us to
take in. We are all one --all of creation, all that now lives, all that
have ever lived-- created by a loving God who calls us into the future inviting
us to co-create in love. You and I are an integral part of it all.
We are connected. We often become so complacent that we forget the
reality of our connectedness and focus only on our little world. Pope
Francis reminds us: "Whenever our
interior life becomes caught up in its own interests and concerns, there is no
longer room for others, no place for the poor. God’s voice is no longer heard;
the quiet joy of his love is no longer felt, and the desire to do good
fades." (Eangeli Gaudium,
p. 4) Perhaps we need Lent to reconnect our awareness of
our interconnectedness. Our
invitation is to recognize our unity and recognize the responsibility that this
unity calls us to.
Pope Francis reminds us often of the poor and the material poverty
that persists in our world and the
responsibility it should call forth in our
lives. In his encyclical Evangelii
Gaudium" (The Joy of the Gospel) Pope Francis tells us "Jesus wants
us to touch human misery, to touch the suffering, flesh of others (p. 133),"
and he challenges us to avoid the ever present modern temptation "to be that kind of Christian who
keeps the Lord's wounds at arm’s length (p. 133)." Pope Francis tells us whenever we take a step
toward Jesus we come to realize that he is already there, waiting for us with
open arms. And so he invites us to pray:
“Lord, I
have let myself be deceived; in a thousand ways I have shunned your love, yet
here I am once more, to renew my covenant with you. I need you. Save me once
again, Lord, take me once more into your redeeming embrace.” (Evangeli Gaudium
, p.4).
So, welcome to Lent, You are dust, stardust, and to stardust you
will return. The energy that connects us flows from an all loving God in
whose image we are made, a God who never tires of forgiving
us; we are the ones who tire of seeking his mercy. This very same God prepared for 13 Billion
Years for this one moment when you and I choose Life for our world and our
Universe. Jesus is our model, "God in flesh”; Jesus invites us into
His dying and rising. Teresa of Avila tells us "Christ has no body
now but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes
through which he looks with compassion on this world. This Lent will we
be willing to enflesh the mystery of the Incarnation in the concrete reality of
our daily lives? Our observance of the Lent can support us in this
effort. May we do the inner work of Lent so that we can make a difference
for all.
