Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday 2010
For where your treasure is there will your heart be also.

Where is your treasure?

Is it in property? Is it in a bank? Is it in possessions?

Jesus never said it is wrong to possess things. Jesus did warn us against being possessed by our possessions. The problem is not in things, not even in money. The problem is in the desires of our heart.

This holy season of Lent is about sin, repentance and transformation. There are two forms of sin. There is original sin and actual sin.

Original sin is that choice the human race made to separate from God. That choice to separate from God creates a deep and terrible existential pain in the soul. That pain is so profound that it distorts every aspect of our being. It especially distorts our reason, will and emotion.
In the distortions of reason, will and emotion people create stories about ourselves, the world and God. At best, those stories are flawed. At best, those stories re cycle the pain of separation.

The soul that lives from the place of separation brings forth the consequence of that separation. The consequence is three fold: a false self, a sinful existence, and death.

Jesus came to rescue us from separation and all of its consequences. He does this by permanently and irrevocably uniting his divinity with our humanity. Jesus is the pattern, the plan, and the purpose for a new way of being human. That new way of being human is what the Bible calls salvation.

There are three aspects of salvation.
The first is justification. Justification is the reunification of the soul with the divine life of God the Father through the one pure perfect sacrifice of God the Son on the cross. Jesus took the pain of our separation, felt it all, suffered all of the consequences, died, and then rose again. In his resurrection Jesus transforms separation into eternal love.

We receive justifying grace by the power of God the Holy Spirit in the waters of baptism. It is a gift. We cannot earn it. We cannot lose it. Jesus offers the gift to everyone without exception.
The second aspect of salvation is in fact the subject of Lent. That aspect is sanctification. The six other sacraments of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church are the primary means of sanctification.

Sanctification means transformation. Since the sin problem confronting us lies in the distortions of reason, will and emotion, the solution lies there as well. There are sins of commission and omission in the intellect, the will, and the heart.

The call to observe a holy Lent is the call to open our minds, hearts and wills to the perfect mirror of Divine Love. The Holy Spirit will use the ordinary events of our life to reveal to us where we live from the place of distortion. He will reveal to us where we live from the false self those distortions create. And, he will infuse grace into our souls to heal the terrible underlying spiritual pain that empowers the distortions and maintains the false self.

This process of sanctification is life long. It requires patience and persistence. It requires courage to assume self responsibility for our choices. It requires a fundamental paradigm shift in our way of living.

That fundamental paradigm shift can be found in the prayer of divine Presence. This is the prayer Jesus prayed daily. It is the prayer that says: Heavenly Father, not my will but your will be done.

Jesus never asks us to submit to divine will. Slaves submit.
Jesus never asks us to withdraw from Divine will. Demons withdraw.
Jesus never asks us to fight against divine will. That rebellion is the root of the problem humanity has created for itself.
Jesus asks us to surrender to Divine will. The beloved surrenders into the embrace of the Eternal and finds himself or herself in that eternal love.

The Litany of Penitence will give us an opportunity to examine our conscience. The Litany is a reality check list to help us discern where we need to repent. Repentance simply means agreeing with God that God is God.

Repentance means yielding the slavery of self will to the freedom of divine will.
Repentance is the means by which we make a real choice to open our minds, hearts and wills to the indwelling Presence of the Holy Spirit. As we yield to that Divine Presence He shows us where we need to make changes in our thoughts, words and deeds.

Jesus reveals to us and makes manifest to us that the treasure God designed us to seek is divine love. We rejected that treasure when we chose to separate from God. The treasure is still there. The treasure is right here. It lies within us. It is here for us in all of its abundance.

The only barrier to the new life of abundance God offer us is our attachment to sin. The solution is the prayer of divine Presence: Heavenly Father, not my will but your will be done.

The application of that prayer during this holy season of Lent is presented to us in the Litany of Penitence. The grace we need to implement the Litany is in the Real Presence of our Living Lord Jesus Christ in the blessed sacrament of the altar. That is the real treasure God makes available to us here and now. If we focus our minds, hearts and wills on Jesus Christ we will lose our false self and discover our real selves in the total immersion of our souls in the infinite and eternal love of God.

Jesus reminds us and invites us: where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.