THE CARDINAL VIRTUES OF LENT (HOMILY FOR ASH WEDNESDAY

The Cardinal virtues of Lent (Homily for Ash Wednesday 

Joel 2:12-18. Psalm 51:3-4,6-6ab,12-13,14,17. 2 Corinthians 5:20--6:2. Matthew 6:1-6,16-18.

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lenten season. The season of Lent prepares us for Easter, the greatest feast of the liturgical year. During this season, the Church's liturgy unceasingly invites us to purify our souls and to begin again.

God invites us in the first reading to come to Him. ""Even now," says the Lord, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning and tear your hearts and not your garments" (Joel 2:12). We are to come to the Lord with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning, in fact, with a sincere repentant heart from our sins, and we will receive His mercy. No matter how terrible our sins may be, they are not big or horrible enough to consume God's mercy for us.

As the priest places ashes on our forehead, he reminds us of the words of Genesis. After the original sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve. Memento homo, quia pulvis es ...., remember, man, that you are dust, and to dust, you shall return (Gen.3:19).

Despite those reminders, we sometimes forget that without God, we are nothing. Without God, all that remains of man's greatness is that little pile of dust, in a dish, at one side of the altar. It is what the Church marks us with on our forehead, as though with our own substance.

In the second reading, St. Paul begs us to be reconciled with God now. "Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor.6:2). It is urgent that we repent and be reconciled with God quickly because we do not know what tomorrow holds for us.

We call on God in the Responsorial Psalm, saying, "Have mercy, O Lord, for we have sinned." For us, conversion means seeking God's pardon and strength in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. This is the way to start again and to improve each day. God will listen to us if today we repeat as an ejaculatory prayer: A pure heart create for me O God; put a steadfast spirit within me.

This Lenten season offers all Christians an opportunity to renew and increase the quality of our spirituality to be able to affect life and humanity in a constructive manner. Consequently, every moment and deed of spiritual value carried out in this season defines the direction of our Christian life. Our piety should not only revolve around fasting, prayer, and almsgiving but involve our hearts being broken to see God in others. It should invoke in us the desire to know God more. Jesus enjoins us in today's Gospel to do the same with our acts of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving.

We must not carry out these cardinal virtues of Lent as if we are compelled to, but joyfully and happily do it so that we "may not be seen by men but by our Father who is in secret; and our Father who sees in secret will reward us" (Matt.6:18). We pray because it is a means of communicating with God. When we give alms, we should do it to meet the needs of the less privileged members of our society, with whom God has a special place.When we fast, we mortify our flesh, we deny ourselves something in order to share it with others, especially with those who are in need. At the same time, we can give more space to God in our lives, remembering that we can not live on bread alone, but that we also need the spiritual food of God's word. Prayer and fasting must lead us to re-examine our relationship with others. We are challenged to embody the attitudes of Christ himself, who spent time in prayer and fasting.

The outcome of these pious 

spiritual activities is that, at the end of Lent, we become transformed not only as better Christians but as better humans.

As we make our Lenten journey, may we become transformed at the celebration of the resurrection at Easter through Christ our Lord. Amen

God bless us all