Today, Ash Wednesday, we begin the season of Lent which will end with the Solemn Paschal Triduum – the celebration of the Lord’s supper, his passion and death and the joyful celebration of the Lord’s Resurrection. During Lent we have time to reflect on the meaning of Lent. We can join recollections or make silent retreats, read and pray over the Scriptures, visit churches and make the Way of the Cross. There are many opportunities for us to be with the Lord in his passion, death and resurrection. We can go to confession and pour out our hearts and burdens and receive the Lord’s pardon and peace. We can do things to change our lives for the better. Let us listen to the exhortation of today’s first reading from the Book of Joel which summarizes the program for the season of Lent, “‘Yet even now, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, weeping and mourning. Rend your heart, not your garment. Return to Yahweh, your God -gracious and compassionate.’ Yahweh is slow to anger, full of kindness, and he repents of having punished.”

In the Gospel reading Jesus teaches us to perform good works and give alms to the needy not to be seen and be praised in public. He reminds us to pray and do our religious duties in the privacy of our homes and not as the hypocritical Pharisees do, who parade their religiosity in public. He reminds us to fast before the heavenly Father and not for others to see. He stresses key acts for the Lenten season: prayer, fasting and corporal acts of mercy and almsgiving.

We begin the season of Lent with penitential ashes on our foreheads, “Turn away from sin and believe in the Gospel.” May this exhortation help us to be with Jesus as he preaches the Good News of the Kingdom, to be with Him in His passion and death on the Cross and in His glorious resurrection.

The Lenten season is time to repent of our sins and to receive God’s pardon in the Sacrament of Penance. It is a time to fast and to give up some things in union with the sufferings of our Lord. It is time for prayer and time to see how we can better serve our neighbors, especially those in need.

Ash Wednesday is also time for us to be reminded of our being creatures and of the fragility of our whole existence, that “we are dust and unto dust we shall return.”