Lenten Journey: Starting with Ashes, Renewing through the Holy Spirit – Life over Death

Lent has begun. We tend to think of Lent as a season of penance. But, it is more than penance. Though we become more aware of our sinfulness, the focus of Lent is not on our sins but the ultimate purpose of overcoming sins. And it is through Christ and his grace, which comes through the Holy Spirit. Yes, the Holy Spirit for our clean heart! 

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We have started Lent on Ash Wednesday, being humbly reminded that we are nothing but dust (עָפָר/aphar) without life (Genesis 3:19) in receiving ashes on our foreheads. As written in Genesis 2:7, though we were nothing but dust (עָפָר/aphar) from the ground (אֲדָמָה/adamah), we became a living human (אָדָם/adam) as we receive God’s  breath of life (נִשְׁמַ֣ת חַיִּ֑ים/nishmat hayyim), reflected on the 1^st Sunday of Lent on Cycle A.

Though we are no longer mere dusts from the ground, because of God’s breath of life, we will return to dusts upon death. It means that God’s breath of life will depart from us when we die.  God’s breath of life will not stay in us forever because of Adam’s sin (Romans 5:12).

As we have begun our Lenten journey, we need to keep in mind this solemnly. At the same time, we also need to remember that Christ has come to change this, reversing what Adam has brought by his sin (Original Sin): death, as reflected in Romans 5:12-19(the 2^nd Reading for the 1^st Sunday of Lent on Cycle A).  Though we all will die and our bodies will return to dusts of the ground, because of Adam,  this will not be the end of our existence. Our life goes beyond death, thanks to Christ. And in the fullness of time, he will return and raise us in our bodies out of the ground (1 Corinthians 15:12-58), so that we may enjoy eternal life (John 3:16; 5:25; 10:27-28; 1 John 5:11) in the Father’s house in heaven (John 14:2). For this, Jesus has promised us the παράκλητος/parakletos, the Holy Spirit as our “adovocate” (John 14:16, 26).  Because God’s breath of life (נִשְׁמַ֣ת חַיִּ֑ים/nishmat hayyim), which turned dusts from the ground (עָפָר֙ מִן־ הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה/apar min hadamar) into a living human (אָדָם/adam) with soul (נֶ֫פֶשׁ/nephesh) is, in essence, the Holy Spirit (רוח הקודש/ruah ha-kodesh; Πνεύματος  Ἁγίου/pneumatos hagiou).

As we proceed on our Lenten journey into the Paschal Triduum, let us keep our focus on the Holy Spirit, the breath of life, our Parakletos (Advocate), while working on cleansing ourselves of our sinful dispositions for a clean new heart, as reflected in Psalm 51. This way, though we are reminded of our mortality due to Adam’s sin (Genesis  2:7-9; 3:1-7, the 1^st reading for the 1^st Sunday of Lent on Cycle A) in receiving Ashes to start our Lenten journey, we will come to have a deeper appreciation for eternal life that Christ has promised, as he has revered sin-death effect on us by fending off temptations , as reflected in Gospel reading for the 1^st Sunday of Lent on Cycle A, Matthew 4:1-11. This appreciation will become even greater and stronger upon his Resurrection well into Paschaltide toward Pentecost, because the Resurrection marks Christ’s triumph over death (i.e. Acts 2:24;Romans 6:9; 1 Corinthians 15:55-57).

 

Therefore, though Lent is a somber season of penance, it is also a time to grow in faith and to look forward to experiencing not only Christ’s reversing the sin-death effect , which Adam has brought on us,  but also his Resurrection, through which death has no longer its last word on us.

Remember, as Fr. Mike Schmitz has said, though ashes on our foreheads reminds us of our mortality, the cross-shaped mark of our ashes reminds us that we have the Savior, who has conquered death, by reversing  what Adam has brought on us with his sin. Through grace that our Savior, Christ, and the Holy Spirit have brought, we can overcome our sins for our eternal life over death.