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I remember my twenty-first birthday well. \u00a0It fell of Ash Wednesday. \u00a0The day that celebrates entry into adulthood with all the joy and triumph of youth began for me with the words \u201cremember that you are dust and that to dust you will return\u201d as a priest imposed ashes on my forehead at 6:30am Mass. \u00a0I recalled the lesson of that day some weeks ago when I realized that once again my birthday would fall on Ash Wednesday.<\/p>\n
At the peak of my youth, my twenty-first birthday, the Church asked me to repent and to seek the Lord since one day I would die and return to dust. \u00a0The Church reminded me that that the invincibility of youth is certainly vincible. \u00a0I was reminded that all things pass away and that what truly matters is having your heart prepared to meet the Lord. \u00a0My father had been diagnosed with a brain tumor one month before my birthday and he would return to dust within the year. \u00a0I experienced (though not personally) the words of Ash Wednesday during my twenty-first year. <\/p>\n
I learned that a life well lived keeps a healthy balance between sentiments of joyful triumph and limitation. \u00a0Jesus calls us to be of good cheer because he has overcome the world while Saint Paul reminds us that in Christ we can do all things. \u00a0These passages call us to be joyful and to maintain a triumphant hope for the future. \u00a0Yet Scripture reminds us of our limitations teaching us, \u201cwatch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour\u201d and \u201crepent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.\u201d \u00a0We are limited not only because one day we will die, but also because our sinfulness limits us.<\/p>\n
We cannot live our lives always afraid of death, nor can we live our lives as if death will never come. \u00a0We cannot live our lives always downcast due to our sins and failings, nor can we live our lives as if we have no sins and failings. \u00a0To strike a balance, we must always remember that we are beloved children of God, passionately loved by a Father who longs for us to spend eternity with Him.<\/p>\n
Saint Paul writes to the Philippians, \u201cfor to me life is Christ, and death is gain.\u201d \u00a0This is the lesson of Ash Wednesday that I learned on my twenty-first birthday. \u00a0Life is full of joys and triumphs because we encounter Christ in it, yet we must never forget that death will come and that death is gain because only through it we encounter Christ in all his glory. \u00a0The Church invites us to meditate on this during the next forty days of Lent, to repent, to mend our ways, so that our death will surely be a gain.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I remember my twenty-first birthday well. \u00a0It fell of Ash Wednesday. \u00a0The day that celebrates entry into adulthood with all the joy and triumph of youth began for me with the words \u201cremember that you are dust and that to dust you will return\u201d as a priest imposed ashes on my forehead at 6:30am Mass. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2533,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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