MARCH 1, 2017

Ash Wednesday 2017 Divine

Intimacy Meditation
ROMAN CATHOLIC SPIRITUAL DIRECTION
http://catholicexchange.com/ash-wednesday-2017-divine-intimacy-
meditation

Ash Wednesday

Presence of God I place myself in Your presence, O Lord; illumine with Your
light the eternal truths, and awaken in my soul a sincere desire for conversion.
MEDITATION:
Dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return (Genesis 3:19).
These words, spoken for the first time by God to Adam after he had committed
sin, are repeated today by the Church to every Christian, in order to remind
him of two fundamental truthshis nothingness and the reality of death.

Dust, the ashes which the priest puts on our foreheads today, has no
substance; the lightest breath will disperse it. It is a good representation of
mans nothingness: O Lord, my substance is as nothing before Thee (Psalm
38:6), exclaims the Psalmist. Our pride, our arrogance, needs to grasp this
truth, to realize that everything in us is nothing. Drawn from nothing by the
creative power of God, by His infinite love which willed to communicate His
being and His life to us, we cannotbecause of sinbe reunited with Him for
eternity without passing through the dark reality of death. The consequence
and punishment of sin, death is, in itself, bitter and painful; but Jesus, who
wanted to be like to us in all things, in submitting to death has given all
Christians the strength to accept it out of love. Nevertheless, death exists, and
we should reflect on it, not in order to distress ourselves, but to arouse
ourselves to do good. In all thy works, remember thy last end, and thou shalt
never sin (Sirach 7:40). The thought of death places before our eyes the
vanity of earthly things, the brevity of lifeAll things are passing; God alone
remainsand therefore it urges us to detach ourselves from everything, to
scorn every earthly satisfaction, and to seek God alone. The thought of death
makes us understand that all is vanity, except to love God and serve Him
alone (Imitation of Christ I, 1,4).
Remember that you have only one soul; that you have only one death to die
then there will be many things about which you care nothing (St. Teresa of
Jesus, Maxims for Her Nuns, 68), that is, you will give up everything that has
no eternal value. Only love and fidelity to God are of value for eternity. In the
evening of life, you will be judged on love (St. John of the Cross, Spiritual
Maxims: Words of Light, 57).
COLLOQUY:
O Jesus, how long is mans life, although we say that it is short! It is short, O
my God, since, by it, we are to gain a life without end; but it seems very long
to the soul who aspires to be with You quickly. O my soul, you will enter
into rest when you are absorbed into the sovereign Good, when you know
what He knows, love what He loves, and enjoy what He enjoys. Then your
will will no longer be inconstant nor subject to change and you will forever
enjoy Him and His love. Blessed are they whose names are written in the
Book of Life! If yours is there, why are you sad, O my soul, and why are you
troubled? Trust in God, to whom I shall still confess my sins and whose
mercies I shall proclaim. I shall compose a canticle of praise for Him and
shall not cease to send up my sighs toward my Savior and my God. A day
will come, perhaps, when my glory will praise Him, and my conscience will
not feel the bitterness of compunction, in the place where tears and fears
have ceased forever. O Lord, I would rather live and die in hope, and in the
effort to gain eternal life, than to possess all creatures and their perishable
goods. Do not abandon me, O Lord! I hope in You, and my hope will not be
confounded. Give me the grace to serve You always and dispose of me as You
wish (St. Teresa of Jesus, Exclamations of the Soul to God 15 17).
If the remembrance of my infidelities torments me, I shall remember, O Lord,
that as soon as we are sorry for having offended You, You forget all our sins
and malice. O truly infinite goodness! What more could one desire? Who
would not blush with shame to ask so much of You? But now is the favorable
time to profit from it, my merciful Savior, by accepting what You offer. You
desire our friendship. Who can refuse to give it to You, who did not refuse to
shed all Your Blood for us by sacrificing Your life? What You ask is nothing!
It will be to our supreme advantage to grant it to You (St. Teresa of
Jesus, Exclamations of the Soul to God 14).

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 Note from Dan: These posts are provided courtesy of Baronius
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Art: Ashes imposed on the forehead of a Christian on Ash Wednesday, 22
February 2012, own work by Jennifer Balaska, Oxh973, PD-Worldwide,
Wikimedia Commons. Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, mirror from open
source material.

About Dan Burke

Dan is the President of the Avila Foundation, the parent organization
of SpiritualDirection.com, the Avila Institute for Spiritual Formation, and
Divine Intimacy Radio, author of the award-winning book, Navigating the
Interior Life Spiritual Direction and the Journey to God, and his newest
books Finding God Through Meditation-St. Peter of Alcantara, 30 Days with
Teresa of Avila, Into the Deep and Living the Mystery of Merciful Love: 30
Days with Thrse of Lisieux. Beyond his contagious love for Jesus and His
Church, he is a grateful husband and father of four, the Executive Director of
and writer for EWTNs National Catholic Register, a regular co-host
on Register Radio, a writer and speaker who provides online spiritual
formation and travels to share his conversion story and the great riches that
the Church provides us through authentic Catholic spirituality. Dan has been
featured on EWTNs Journey Home program and numerous radio programs.