"God Casts Away Our Sins"
Today's Mass Readings
The first reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah is a powerful reading. I would recommend setting aside some time to day to meditate over it, especially 1:16-19. Of all the Old Testament Prophets, Isaiah has some of the most moving passages concerning the forgiveness of sins and God's mercy. God shows us His mercy: "Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow; Though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool" (1:18). Elsewhere in the Book of Isaiah, God goes even further and tells us: "It is I, I, who wipe out, for my own sake, your offenses; your sins I remember no more" (43:25). The omniscient God Who knows all, chooses to remember our sins no more once they have been confessed and wiped out.
This is a powerful message for Lent. Lent is a forty day wilderness period. Lent, and especially Good Friday which transitions us into Easter, teaches us the depths of God's mercy. Jesus died for us. But Jesus is risen, even during Lent, Jesus is risen, as every celebration of the Eucharist testifies. Lent is a time of mercy and of healing. The very penance we practice during Lent is an expression of God's mercy in our lives.
Were we perfect humans, sinless and whole, we would not need Lent. Lent would be a helpful reminder of what God has done for us, but if we were truly perfect, as God is perfect, it would not be a necessity for us. Lent is a time of healing for those who need healing, and that means all of us. We are a broken people. We have all been hurt in some way. We have all sinned. We have all experienced loss. Lent helps make us whole again, but drawing us ever close to God.
It is only when we turn to God that we experience the wonderful mercy He wrought for us through Christ. A wonderful mercy that purifies us from our many sins, and makes us whole. Throughout today, let us turn to God in a special way. Let us ask God to make us whole again, and to remove our sins, and remember them no more. After our next confession, let us ask for the grace to remember our past sins no more, and to move on to follow God afresh.
If you haven't been to the Sacrament of Reconciliation in a while, pray about setting some time aside to enter into the warmth and forgiveness God desires to lavish on us, which we may experience in a special way through this sacrament. Lent is a perfect season to revisit confession. Most importantly, let us turn to God, and throw ourselves at His mercy and love. We see what God wants us to experience, all throughout Isaiah. Let's read Isaiah, and meditate on God's words to us. As He spoke to Israel in exile, so He speaks to us: "I have called you by name: you are mine....you are precious in my eyes...I love you" (43:1, 4).
Jeff Morrow