Ash Wednesday
©️2021 Gloria M. Chang
Seeking the Face of God
Ash Wednesday begins with the sober remembrance of our expulsion from the Garden of Eden. “For you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” the Lord God pronounced after Adam’s transgression (Genesis 3:19).
Through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, we seek the face of God in the desert, like the Israelites in Sinai. On the way to the Promised Land, hope in Christ’s resurrection helps us descend with him into the tomb. “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven” (1 Corinthians 15:49, RSV).
The Cross: The Way of Return
Descending from heaven to battle the tempter, the Son overcame adversity through trust in his Father. Significantly, Christ’s forty days in the desert followed his baptism in the Jordan. Baptized sons and daughters of God also grow through daily faith and discipline.
Easter joy is the fruit of Christ’s conquest of “principalities,” “powers,” “world rulers of this present darkness,” and the “evil spirits in the heavens” (Ephesians 6:12). The sacrifice of the cross is the crushing entrance to immortal life and paradise.
May the Holy Spirit guide us into the desert to hear his voice and transform our hearts.
If today you hear his voice,
Gospel Acclamation (Psalm 95:8)
harden not your hearts.
Remember that you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.
Traditional Chinese Translation
《四旬期， 第1天》
當記得你本是塵土，
仍要歸於塵土。
Dear GMC, Your reflections, whether posted for the 1st time or re-posted, always help us proceed and succeed in our faith-filled journey. Always a new insight that hadn’t been seen before to be had. Thank you, GMC, for sharing your tremendous body of work that lives on in our hearts and minds. Personally, it has helped me through some tough times. Have a beautiful Ash Wednesday and a good Lent! My prayers will be with you.
Thank you, fdan! The Lord is good to us and we will pray for each other!
Not made of fake fairy dust are we!
Humans are created by God,
in the image of Trinity.
Spirit-breathed dust flies higher than a fairy,
To the Trinity beyond vale and prairie!
Time to dust off my Lenten list!
Quantity and long list of don’ts
Will surely lead to failures.
Quality along with a few do’s
Will better serve Lenten journey.
Lord, what is the one thing only
You require of me?
Be kind as you walk humbly
with me on the way to Calvary.
Amen!