Lent is a time of honesty, a time to admit we can do better—become better; that is, if we care to make an effort.

Homily for Ash Wednesday

“Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart.” “Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.” “Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” Our readings today call us to this time of repentance- a forty day call to conversion to prepare ourselves for the joyful celebration of Easter.
I remember as child giving up sweets during Lent. I made the sacrifice, in fact I was quite proud about my success; but as I think back, my success didn’t really change me much. I didn’t save the money I would have spent on candy and given to the St. Vincent de Paul Society nor did I take extra time to prayer in order to grow closer to God. I can’t really say I ever really got anything out of Lent- it was just a time where I didn’t eat candy and got ashes and then went on with my same sinful selfish habits. I don’t think this is the type of Lent we are called to. Lent must be about more than just receiving ashes and then going on living our lives just like before; to be quite frank we might as well not waste our time. Receiving of the Ashes just becomes more a superstition, or a good luck charm; I got the ashes and so I am okay with God.
The ashes signify of course that our time in this world is very, very short, the comes death, judgment, heaven or hell. And so, the Lent our Lord calls us to today, is one of conversion, which is a change of heart. Our hearts need to turn back to God in love and our lives must change to reflect that love. We might not think we are so bad; after all we can say, "I try to go to Mass every week. Maybe I don’t make it but after all I’m a good person." The problem is, is that God doesn’t want us only to be good, He wants us to love Him; not like we love chocolate or coffee or anything else in this world, but to love Him fully completely, more than anything else in this world and to show that love by becoming a better Christian.
Lent is a time of honesty, a time to admit we can do better—become better; that is, if we care to make an effort. It is a time for reflection and self-examination, a time to admit our sinfulness, and make a commitment to do something about it. Lent is time snap out of our indifference and lukewarmness and admit truthfully that none of us love God enough…but from this point on we are going to ask God to increase our love by helping us to have a deeper conversion of heart in order to live our lives more deeply in union with Him.
Lent is also a time of hopefulness, of looking forward to the joy of Easter; not only to Christ victory over death, but our own victory over selfishness, self-centeredness, egotism and sin, which is always a failure to Love God and neighbor for love of Him. Lent is time to say yes, even though it is going to cost us some effort, we can, with the help of God grace, love Him more and love our neighbor more for love of Him. And so, today is the first day we, in a deeper way, put God and His will first, in order to show Him we love Him.
And so, instead of giving up candy or coffee maybe we can do the following:
*If we are not already doing so, devote time each day to talk to God in
Intimate prayer: every morning and evening for sure.
*If we already pray, increase the time we converse with God.
*Pray together with the family- even it be for five minutes; or better
yet pray the rosary together as a family.
*Make a firm committment to attend Mass every single Sunday if you
don't always do so; if you do always do so, make a committment to
attend daily Mass during Lent either at 8am or 5:30pm Mon-Thurs
and Saturday or 5pm on Fridays.
*Give up that television show, which probably isn’t really good to
watch anyway and instead read a good spiritual book one that will enrich my knowledge and love of our Lord and of His One, Holy,
Catholic and Apostolic Church.
*Come to Holy Hour and adore Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament on
Thursday nights or Saturday nights; consider signing up to cover an
hour during the Saturday all night Holy Hour each week during Lent.
*Make a commitment to come to Friday night Stations of the Cross
with your whole family.
*Work on acts of charity; Such as:
Devote more time or money or both to help the work of the
Parish’s St. Vincent de Paul Society.
*Work on my patience and kindness to others such as drivers I
meet on the word and especially members of members of my
family and to drivers I meet on the road.
*Give alms by beginning or increasing my yearly financial
gift to the Church and to the poor.
*And finally, For sure, spend quality time making a good examination
of conscience in order to make a good confession so that you heart
will pure, and so a pleasing offering to the Lord.

This Lent is meant to be a sober reminder of life itself. In a few moments, you will receive blessed ashes on your foreheads. This is more than just a sign of repentance; it is a source of the grace of conversion God desires to give us. We recall that we are dust and to dust we shall return. Our time here on earth is short and so it is urgent that we remove all those things that will keep us from heaven- all of those sinful patterns of our lives, and we remove them now. Time is short, someday which is really not all that far away, we will die and our bodies will turn to the dust from which we came; what will remain is our love for God or lack there of. May we entrust to the Virgin all of our desires to have a great season of Lent, filled with graces for our conversion ever closer to her Son.