Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. It is the time of preparation for Easter. A time in which, among other things, we are invited to purify ourselves in order to fully live the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. And in pursuit of that goal, we must search through some passages of the Bible.
In the dictionary it says that the word “purify” is defined as : “to remove what it is strange, returning it to its original state”. Since the days of Adam and Eve, that “strange” thing we have in us that makes us impure is Original Sin. To return to our natural state of purity, we must attain holiness; to which, as Pope Francis reminds us in his apostolic exhortation Gaudete et Exsultate, we are all called. Lent, which we begin today with Ash Wednesday, is the time that God gives us to meditate and cleanse ourselves of that which is not good for us. Possibly – at least surely in my case – after this forty-day walk we will not reach sainthood, but we will feel better, and closer to God. To help in that walk, we have selected these seven verses from the Bible.
As the prophet Isaiah points out to us, we must keep in mind that we are not alone in the pilgrimage through our personal desert. We have the company of God. And He, like Jesus was with his disciples, is patient with us and explains the obvious to us over and over again. He forgives us before each fall from grace and waits for us when he sees that we prefer to distract ourselves with other gods. It is also important to remember, as Saint Paul says in his Letter to the Romans or the Apostle James states, that those tests that we go through, those difficulties that we face in our lives strengthen us, regardless of whether we sing victory or not. Trials in life make us patient, or rather, humble because we realize that without God we cannot go on, and that the important thing is that our hearts are clean and pure. Because as the evangelists Luke and Matthew rightly say: it is useless to attend mass every day during Lent, to fast, to give alms, to pray and pray, and not to miss any celebration of Holy Week, if in our hearts we harbor the smallest bit of hatred towards one of our brothers or sisters. Yes, it’s correct. The measuring bar that God proposes to us is very high, but the reward is even greater.
When you pass through the water, I will be with you; in the rivers you shall not drown. When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned; the flames shall not consume you.
Isaiah 43, 2.
The Lord said to him, “Oh you Pharisees! Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, inside you are filled with plunder and evil.
Luke 11,39.
Not only that, but we even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance,
Romans 5, 3.
It is not what enters one’s mouth that defiles that person; but what comes out of the mouth is what defiles one. Then Peter said to him in reply, “Explain (this) parable to us.” He said to them, “Are even you still without understanding? Do you not realize that everything that enters the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled into the latrine? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile. For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, unchastity, theft, false witness, blasphemy. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”
Matthew 15, 11.15-20.
Salt is good, but if salt becomes insipid, with what will you restore its flavor? Keep salt in yourselves and you will have peace with one another.
Mark 9, 49-50.
Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. And let perseverance be perfect, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing
James 1,-4.
Blessed is the man who perseveres in temptation, for when he has been proved he will receive the crown of life that he promised to those who love him.
James 1,12.
