Repent and Believe in the Gospel

A priest buddy of mine once told me that Ash Wednesday is the biggest day of the year that young adults come to Mass. There are 2 reasons why I think that this happens:

1. It brings back their childhood memories.
2. They want to actually live a Christian life, and they know that the world in itself is not enough for them.

Some of our earliest memories of Church are receiving ashes, and how cool it was that we were able to get something on our forehead, and then, of course, having the competition of who could keep the ashes on their forehead the longest. We maybe didn’t know what the ashes symbolized, but we knew that Lent began. We had some “dirt” on our foreheads, but it didn’t matter, because other people did as well.

As we grew older, we began to see that Lent was actually a great opportunity to start anew, and as Christopher West is sharing all around the country, we began to realize that we were “made for something more”. Made for what? Made for something more than this world can give us, made for God, and that is why we repent.

Repentance is a radical conversion, saying I desire to change, and living for something more, living for God. That is why the priest states “Repent, and believe in the Gospel”. The Gospel is the Good News of Jesus Christ, and if we actually believe in Jesus Christ, then we will want to repent, because we will want all of Jesus Christ, and all that He wants to bestow down upon us, not only in heaven, but in this world as well.

The great thing about this is that we do not have to do this alone, we do it as a community of believers. You see, all those people who you saw today with ashes on their foreheads want the same thing that you want (even if you didn’t get ashes today or they didn't). We all want God. We know that we need to repent (remember, repentance is radical conversion every day) and to believe in the Good News of Jesus Christ. So, as we begin this Lenten journey, remember that you are not alone on this journey. We all want the same thing, we want life with God. Let’s journey together, regardless of age, race, or how religious we might appear, and Repent and Believe in the Gospel, because that is what we all desire.

As always, please know of my prayers for you and your loved ones, please continue to pray for me.

God Bless,

Fr. Carlson

Opening Prayer for Ash Wednesday:

Grant, O Lord, that we may begin with holy fasting

the campaign of Christian service,

so that, as we take up battle against spiritual evils,

we may be armed with weapons of self-restraint.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.