Saturday of the First Week of Lent

Lectionary: 229


Today you are making this agreement with the LORD: he is to be your God and you are to walk in his ways and observe his statutes, commandments and decrees,
and to hearken to his voice.

And today the LORD is making this agreement with you: you are to be a people peculiarly his own, as he promised you; and provided you keep all his commandments, he will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory above all other nations he has made, and you will be a people sacred to the LORD, your God, as he promised."
The ashes of Lent remind us of God's blessings, their favor and their burden. There are a dozen references in scripture to the sign that is placed on the foreheads of God's chosen people. Like the blood over the doorposts in Egypt, our Lenten ashes exempt us from the curse that must fall on the wicked. 
But they also signify our sins. Wearing ashes, we admit to friends and strangers alike that we are a sinful people. It is good that, in our Catholic tradition, we wear them for the rest of Ash Wednesday. 
Our first reading today from the Book of Deuteronomy recalls the bilateral nature of covenant. Moses reminded his people, "you are making this agreement with the LORD;" and "the LORD is making this agreement with you." 
Always, in our life, there is the "you" who goes with "us." 
Always, in our life, there is the "us" that goes with "me." 
The individual is the one who is divided away from his people. It is good to be alone sometimes, to discover myself in solitude -- because there I discover the presence of God. As Jesus said, "...your Father who sees in secret..." 
In God's presence we are never alone. The solitary prays with Mary, the saints and angels. 
This is the covenant that God has made with us, and each one of us. 
For those who are dedicated to sin, who rebel against love and community, who despise their reliance on others and their responsibility to others, God's presence can be hell on earth. It is a burden too heavy to bear. 
For those who turn back to the Lord, it is a great comfort. 
The season of Lent, because it recurs every year, reminding us of our sins and our blessings, carries with it the history of sin and the memory of Original Sin. The forty days of Lent remind us that we cannot overcome our bad habits, suspicious fears, and sour attitudes with good intentions. I, for one, experience a grim helplessness early in the season as I realize I have already found necessary exceptions to my Lenten resolutions, and unassailable excuses for setting them aside. 
The evil of our world which would destroy men, women and children, born and unborn -- and our very planet -- did not hesitate to crucify the Son of God. Should I be surprised at my failure? 
Lent assures us that God is faithful even yet. 

Dear God have mercy on us who had no mercy on you.