2 Corinthians: In an acceptable time
I heard you, and on the day of salvation I
helped you. Behold, now is a very
acceptable time; behold, now is the day
of salvation.
ACCEPTABLE TIME also means A TIME OF FAVOR equated to “a
time of redemption” and “a time of salvation.”
Now is such a time. BEHOLD … NOW
IS THE DAY OF SALVATION.
Often, we are drawn to thinking of LENT or ASH WEDNESDAY as
a time of GLOOM … a time seemingly spent flagellating ourselves, pondering our many weaknesses as human persons … our
fragility and weaknesses. “You are dust
and unto dust you must return.”
How can this time be an “acceptable time” and a “time of
favor”? The word LENT in the Anglo-Saxon tradition is LENCTEN
, which means the season of SPRING (lenctentid,
is the Anglo-Saxon word for March, the month in which most of Lent usually
falls). Of course, in the Northern
hemisphere, spring means the end of WINTER … no more ICE. Snow and cold weather which cause the
temporary death of flowers and trees and the hibernation of animals … now give
way to SPRING … the blooming of plants, the springing of life anew.
DUST
and ASH? How can these be symbols of NEW
LIFE for us? More than reminding all of
us that we will all DIE anyway … and that all these sufferings we endure
everyday will all come to an end anyway … I think, DUST and ASH must bring us
to remember WHO and WHAT we TRULY … TRULY are. DO YOU STILL KNOW YOURSELF?
The
past months and years … we had been overly preoccupied with a lot of things. We can get too DISTRACTED by
things around us … or we can be so overly preoccupied with what we can acquire
for ourselves or the accomplishments, the trophies, the friends and
acquaintances that we foolishly think determine our self-worth … who I real
am. Lent reminds us: TIGILAN NA NATIN ANG KALOKOHAN NA YAN. If you remove all the things that you have
predicated to who you are … will you still recognize yourself? Who am I really? DO YOU STILL KNOW YOURSELF?
Paul’s
letter to the Corinthians says: Behold,
now is a very acceptable time; behold,
now is the day of salvation. This is a
TIME OF FAVOR. Salvation comes with the
knowledge of who and what we are in front of God. DUST and ASH – the ADAMA – the earth and soil
… with which our first parents were created.
LENT or LENCTEN – an acceptable time,
a time of salvation -- a time of growth and new life.
SALVATION comes because God wills it
to happen. God wishes
everyone to be saved … but we all need to cooperate with such a saving
activity.
Can LENT remind us that what may
seemingly be NEGATIVE … can as well be transformed into something positive and
salvific? Behind every seemingly
negative experience (you may wish to look back and remember) is a CALL … God’s
call. How do we deal with such bad
experiences … which are plenty and painful even as we examine our own family
histories and our histories of coping with life. Do we simply forget about them, brush them
aside or even deny the existence of such a negative experience?
We are all CALLED to squarely face
our many weaknesses … and this can perhaps be our new context to the prophet
Joel’s call … to FAST, WEEP and MOURN … to SPLIT OUR HEARTS and not our
garments and return to the Lord, our God.
We are CALLED to trust in the mighty power of God to transform us … to
create in us a clean heart, a new and steadfast Spirit … as the Psalms
proclaim. For indeed God wishes us all
to be saved … only if we are able to LOOK INTENTLY at our failings … WEEP and
MOURN … enter into a state of confusion and helplessness for our misgivings …
and determine for ourselves that it is God and truly God whom we need to be
saved.
LENT is CUARESMA or 40 days … which can well speak also of
the Lord’s 40 days in the desert .. the time he was tempted … the time he
wholeheartedly pray for his vocation.
Can this period be a more intense period of prayer for us. A
diocese calls for real intense prayer, fasting and abstinence in cases when
churches had been DESECRATED. Let’s
think of ourselves and our own community … how have our many weaknesses
contributed to our collective failings as a community … the desecration of our
own life in community or the desecration of our own vocations. The Gospel
instructs us that when we pray, let us go to our inner room, close the door,
and pray to our Father in secret. We do
not mean of course, a physical room … but the innermost room of our hearts …
that which is untouched by our most worldly desires and sin … the place where
we can truly be touched once again by the very powerful and healing presence of
God.
As we begin our observance of Lent … may this period be as
well a TIME OF FAVOR for us, a TIME to WEEP and MOURN AWAY our many weaknesses trusting
much in God’s power to create a clean heart in us … and lastly … can this time
be a real period of intense prayer for our community that our almost worn out
spirits be sanctified anew with the help of God.
