P
Portrait
Guest
Dear Friends,
Ash Wednesday is not merely a day of Fast and Abstinence but essentially a call for reality in religion. Our aim should be the cultivation of an unworldly spirit using all of the appointed means of grace at our disposal, for if our religion is to be real it must involve sacrifice of money (almsgiving), of time, (prayer) and bodily pleasure (fasting). Surely it is not fanciful to link these three great instruments of the life of faith with St. Paul’s injunction in Titus 2: 12 to “live sober, upright and godly lives in this world”. At any rate we should, I think, recognize afresh the all-embracing character of true religion, which touches * all* aspects of life and governs every relationship.
As ashes are placed on the forehead the priest says, “Remember you are dust and unto dust you will return”, a stark reminder of our origin. Many learned tomes have been written on the origin of species, yet the simple narrative of Genesis, written in unscientific language, has the ring of truth more than any of them put together. The central truth is that God Almighty created all things and man is the apex of that creation. The account of our Fall from grace and the subsequent flaw in man’s nature, is manifestly evident to all save for the most wilfully blind and blinkered. Indeed it has been well remarked that had there been no story of the Fall in Sacred Scripture we should have been compelled to invent something of the kind to account for human history. Of course the world will never be short of a sneering and moching Stephen Fry or Christopher Hitchens (how unlike his brother Peter), but what message of hope do these irreligious “thinkers” offer this sin-sick world?; can such intellectuals ever improve man’s awful plight and halt his growing sense of despair?
Should we not ponder why people of previous generations had a sense of sin whilst people today have no such sense. Is it not largely owing to the fact that man now feels he has outgrown such ‘unenlightned notions’ such as Original Sin and the Fall? As an inevitable consequence of this man has ceased believing in God and stopped saying his prayers and keeping the Commandments.
Our birth and our death are as much out of our hands as the wind. The Book of Ecclesiastes makes this very point - “who can hold back the wind or control the day of our death?” We are in the hands of God and so are the godless and unbelieving, whether they acknowledge it or not. The truly wise will accept that God is in control and humble themselves under His mighty hands and pursue holiness.
This Lent let us pray especially for the godless and irreligious philosophers and scoffers who seem to take a perverse delight in speaking and writing derisively against our most holy Faith. May they be brought to see the error of their ways and repent of their harsh speeches and seek the Lord God through the Holy Catholic Church.
Finally, may we who profess to be Christians resolve to cultivate an unworldly - or, if you please, an other-worldly - spirit, not just during Lent but always. Let us remember that to be wedded to and enslaved by the pleasures of this life is to live for that which is passing, perishable and precarious. Let us spend our time in this world in the light of eternity by laying up for ourseves “treasures in heaven”; “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (see St. Matthew 6: 19-21). This is truly the pursuit of what has been termed the secret wealth and is the key to a genuine heavenly-mindedness.
Warmest good wishes,
Portrait
Ash Wednesday is not merely a day of Fast and Abstinence but essentially a call for reality in religion. Our aim should be the cultivation of an unworldly spirit using all of the appointed means of grace at our disposal, for if our religion is to be real it must involve sacrifice of money (almsgiving), of time, (prayer) and bodily pleasure (fasting). Surely it is not fanciful to link these three great instruments of the life of faith with St. Paul’s injunction in Titus 2: 12 to “live sober, upright and godly lives in this world”. At any rate we should, I think, recognize afresh the all-embracing character of true religion, which touches * all* aspects of life and governs every relationship.
As ashes are placed on the forehead the priest says, “Remember you are dust and unto dust you will return”, a stark reminder of our origin. Many learned tomes have been written on the origin of species, yet the simple narrative of Genesis, written in unscientific language, has the ring of truth more than any of them put together. The central truth is that God Almighty created all things and man is the apex of that creation. The account of our Fall from grace and the subsequent flaw in man’s nature, is manifestly evident to all save for the most wilfully blind and blinkered. Indeed it has been well remarked that had there been no story of the Fall in Sacred Scripture we should have been compelled to invent something of the kind to account for human history. Of course the world will never be short of a sneering and moching Stephen Fry or Christopher Hitchens (how unlike his brother Peter), but what message of hope do these irreligious “thinkers” offer this sin-sick world?; can such intellectuals ever improve man’s awful plight and halt his growing sense of despair?
Should we not ponder why people of previous generations had a sense of sin whilst people today have no such sense. Is it not largely owing to the fact that man now feels he has outgrown such ‘unenlightned notions’ such as Original Sin and the Fall? As an inevitable consequence of this man has ceased believing in God and stopped saying his prayers and keeping the Commandments.
Our birth and our death are as much out of our hands as the wind. The Book of Ecclesiastes makes this very point - “who can hold back the wind or control the day of our death?” We are in the hands of God and so are the godless and unbelieving, whether they acknowledge it or not. The truly wise will accept that God is in control and humble themselves under His mighty hands and pursue holiness.
This Lent let us pray especially for the godless and irreligious philosophers and scoffers who seem to take a perverse delight in speaking and writing derisively against our most holy Faith. May they be brought to see the error of their ways and repent of their harsh speeches and seek the Lord God through the Holy Catholic Church.
Finally, may we who profess to be Christians resolve to cultivate an unworldly - or, if you please, an other-worldly - spirit, not just during Lent but always. Let us remember that to be wedded to and enslaved by the pleasures of this life is to live for that which is passing, perishable and precarious. Let us spend our time in this world in the light of eternity by laying up for ourseves “treasures in heaven”; “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (see St. Matthew 6: 19-21). This is truly the pursuit of what has been termed the secret wealth and is the key to a genuine heavenly-mindedness.
Warmest good wishes,
Portrait
