Ash Wednesday

"Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the LORD, your God." Jl 2:13

Repentance or conversion, to which the church calls us as Lent begins, is really quite simple. We are to stop worrying about our troubles, our self image, our wealth, our health and everything else that distracts us from God. Lent is a time to turn to God again. We are to think about what God wants of us and from us. We are to ask for insight to know God's will and the faith to do it. It is as if we have been sitting looking out a window, which might be very lovely and relaxing, but is not what God is asking of us. God is asking us to look at God and return to our belief in the Good News. Conversion is an English translation of the Greek word, metanoia which simple means to turn back or to turn around. Admitting we are lost in our own fantasies or struggles is the first step. Turning away from them to God is the beginning of our ongoing conversion.

Karl Rahner said it well but in a different key in the last century. "The Christian of tomorrow will be a mystic, or not a Christian at all." That God is calling all of us to be mystics may be counter intuitive, but it is clearly one of the tasks of Lent. We need to take time to "gaze" at God and not at our own belly buttons. We need to open our eyes and spirits to everything swirling around us and find God at the center. God is here. Always and in all ways. God is present not only in the enriching, enlivening, uplifting moments of life. God is present when we worry, suffer, obsess and walk away. Lent is about finding God by turning away from everything that distracts us and turning back to God. It is simple, but very difficult and will not be accomplished overnight.

Today ask God to call your name so that you might turn to God again.

Share a moment of conversion that you experienced.