"All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return." (Ecclesiastes 3:20)That verse pretty much sums up the season of Lent to me. I went to my church's Ash Wednesday service and received the imposition of ashes on my forehead. As I look at them occasionally, I am reminded of that statement that God spoke to Adam and Eve, "You are dust, and to dust you shall return", and it makes me absolutely shattered. I'm not immortal, no matter how long I'm blessed to live. I can't act like nothing can hurt me, or that I'm better than some people. In God's eyes, I'm just as worse as those people who are "sinning" greater than I. But my pastor, as he traced the ashes on my forehead in the sign of the cross, said something that I wasn't expecting: "Emmanuel, Christ has died for you and forgiven all your sins". What a relief that is! Christ has done for ME and forgive all MY sins! Yet, how often I forget this. But this is the whole point of this Lenten journey, to realize that I am not as good as I think I am, that I am nothing but a wretched sinner destined for eternal punishment, but not to stay there in that wallowing, but to realize Christ has suffered in my place simply because He wanted to, that through the Holy Spirit has called me to faith in Him, and to carry my own cross with Him on the via dolorosa. It's a mouthful but I hope that this journey will lead to a greater understanding of Christ and Him crucified. Pray for me, my brothers and sisters, that my heart be opened to what Christ has to show me about myself these forty days.
Blessed Lententide,
Manny Tovar
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