Ash Wednesday Homily

foreign it is a ritual that we are doing every year on ash wednesday i am unclean this is what we proclaim when we join the ritual of ashvanes day and so today we enter again into a season of penance and fasting and we're called upon by our readings to humble ourselves before god and before one another we have ashes imposed on our heads hindi sapa [Music] as close to our brains as possible as a way of being reminded keep this in your head we are but dust and ashes [Music] we have nothing to boast or to be arrogant about [Music] when god reclaims the breath of life that he has breathed upon us we who have been created from the dust of the earth will return to dust like everything else around us including our bodies and all the material things that we may have accumulated all the money all the power and all the fame will be reduced to ashes we will all end up as dust and ashes this is the statement that we are making once again as we enter into the season of lengths but it can become a meaningless statement it becomes meaningful only if we learn to strip ourselves of any kind of boastfulness or arrogance or haughtiness is an echo of the prophet upon isaiah time 800 years before christ a prophet called isaiah already asked the same questions about fasting how this meaningful ritual can easily become meaningless when we fail to do it properly listen listen to how the prophet verbalizes the lament of israel this is in chapter 58 of isaiah verses 1 to 12. why do we fast lord and you do not see it you why do we afflict ourselves and you do not take note of it this question should be coming from us as we continue to go through this seemingly endless pandemic probably the longest length that we have ever experienced it started 339 days ago on march 15 2020 the first time we experienced a lockdown and the whole nation was put under quarantine i wonder if the lord has decided to put another 0 to 40. zero 400 days of length question mark we're not even sure if we will see an end to it after another 61 more days to i am not asking i am lamenting like the prophet isaiah i am tempted to pray and ask lord why do we fast and you do not seem to see it in we have been praying our oratio imperata for the past 339 days now and we are still praying it but the prophet has a quick response to israel's lament which is becoming our lament is this the manner of fasting that i wish [Music] that you bow your head like a reed and lie in sackcloth and ashes is this what you call fasting are they acceptable to the lord and then the prophet declares in the name of god he says this rather is the kind of fasting that i wish releasing those who are detained unjustly untying their yokes and setting them free i wonder how many people are unjustly detained in our country today i never thought before that our indifference to their suffering can indefinitely prolong our lengths and make our rituals of penance meaningless that our christ to heaven bounds back to us when we ourselves are unable to hear the cries of the widows and the orphans today is february 17 2021 and it was exactly on this day february 17 2017. that a local court pressed drug related charges against one lady senator okay little that's four years ago now and the charges against her remain unproven but she continues to suffer detention if this kind of injustice can be done to a duly elected legislator of our country i wonder what it is like for ordinary people who have also been unjustly detained for non-bailable charges people who cannot afford a lawyer who continue to suffer away from their loved ones who need them if we cannot hear their cries how do we expect god to hear our cries we can at least offer our lenten fast for them let us fast for them perchance the lord will put an end to our own quarantine and not multiply 400 days to another 400 days for yet another 400 days 1200 days we are all waiting for a rainbow for the day god will declare an end to this pandemic i am also thinking of the people of myanmar and another courageous lady named aung sansuchi and the countless burmese people who have been unjustly detained for no other reason than they had won in the recent election and the military could not accept their defeats this had happened a long time ago and people were hoping that spaces of democracy have already been open the moment the military allowed the civilians to share in governance but recently it is the people of myanmar who have made a statement they want civilian authority over the military and they feel that the military have no business in governance they could not accept their defeat they jailed those who won and those who refuse military government let us thank god that we are not there i think also of the beloved archbishop of yangon charles cardinalbo he came to our country as the papal legate during the last eucharistic congress in cebu a very gentle man he is like a voice crying out in the wilderness crying out for an end to conflict in his beloved country and has a country that has known conflict far too long if we think our quarantine has lasted for 339 days theirs have lasted all to decades decades already i also invite you brothers and sisters to include them in our lenten fasting and penance i think of the displaced people around the world people who have become homeless because they flee from places of conflict and wars i think of people who suffer from exclusion because of racial ethnic religious political economic or any form of intolerance their christ must reach us first if we want our own christ to reach the heavenly i think of the countless people who have suffered because of this pandemic and those among them who have died alone whose families have not even had the chance to grieve their loss together i think of their loved ones and how poignantly the ashes of ashwinis they must speak to them now as they try to hold on to the ashes of their beloved departed ones who have died during this pandemic m i think of those who have lost their jobs those who have lost their businesses and their means of livelihood i think of those who are hungry and those who cannot pay their rent and have to become homeless if we are to include them in our lenten fasting we must listen very well to the words of the prophet and let me continue reading the words of this prophet he speaks for god again he says god says this is the fasting that i want that you share your bread with the hungry but you shelter the oppressed and the homeless that you clothe the naked when you see them and that you do not turn your back on your neighbors and the exhortation comes with a promised reward he says it is only then that your own cries will reach the ears of god he says then your light shall break forth like the dawn and your wound shall quickly be healed your vindication shall go before you and the glory of the lord shall be your rear guard then you shall call and the lord will answer you shall cry for help and god will say here i am if you remove from your midst oppression false accusation and malicious speech if you learn to break bread with a hungry and satisfy the afflicted then light shall rise for you in the darkness and the gloom shall become for you like the midday

Channel: Diocese of Kalookan

Views: 14,601

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Id: W-bJ3stCkzg

Length: 20min 16sec (1216 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 16 2021