For
the first time since 2018, Ash Wednesday and Valentine's Day fall on the same
day. This year, Ash Wednesday and
Valentine’s Day coincide: a day about joy, love, and celebration alongside a
day about sacrifice, remembering our mortality, and recalling our utter
dependence on God. As we prepare to commemorate these two realities let us remember
that it may be the perfect time to invite our loving God into all of our life
experiences and remember that love heals. It may just be the perfect way for us
to enter Lent, remembering God is the one love that was here at the beginning
of our lives and will be here long after our inevitable end.
In
his 2024 Lenten message, Pope Francis reminds us of a question that God asked
Adam and Eve after they had eaten of the fruit, “Where are you?” (Gen 3:9) God
was looking for them not to judge them, but rather to enter into a dialogue.
Notice that God made the first move to search out where Adam and Eve were
hiding, and God reached out. Lent reminds us that God continues to reach out to
us. He does not want any of us to be lost. He knows our limitations; thus, He
comes to tell us that He understands us and loves us. That is what Lent is
about. It is a time to respond to the call. Let us not allow our fears, our
notion of unworthiness hide us from God. Lent invites us to open our ears and our
hearts and listen to the voice of the Lover. And we can do that by practicing
the three disciplines of Lent: Listen in prayer. Fast from the noises,
activities, attitudes that inhibit us from hearing His voice. Give alms, which
is to be good to others and to ourselves. In doing so, we rediscover that God
absolutely loves us.
This
year as we celebrate Valentine’s Day let us remember to invite God in for the
joys as well as the sorrows, the excitements as well as the frustrations, and
the healthy moments as well as the sick ones. Ash Wednesday and Lent are both
encounters of love. Let us allow our
hearts to be filled with love and at the same time be open to the ultimate gift
of love that our God continually showers us with.
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