You and I are here today because there is at least a portion of our heart is for the Lord—a portion of our heart which recognizes the need for God—the need to love God, follow God, and serve God. But God doesn’t want just one piece of our heart-he wants all of it. “Return to me with your whole heart.”
Since the Garden of Eden, from that first sin, mankind has had that terrible affliction of keeping our whole hearts from God. But we were meant to, and we were made to love God with our whole hearts. As ashes are placed on our foreheads we will hear today those words, “Remember you are dust” recalling that we were made by God from the dust of earth. This is the call to remember who made us, and why He made us. He made us to love Him and each other, he made us to trust Him, to obey Him, to follow Him…always. He made us from the love in His heart, that we may love Him back with our whole hearts.
“Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return” is a reminder of the consequences of our failure to love God with our whole hearts, our sin. “The wages of sin is death”. We return to the dust of the earth from which we were made as a result of sin. We are excluded from heaven because of our sin, for heaven is the place not just for those who love God with some of their hearts, but for those who love God with all of their hearts.
We place ashes on our foreheads, we fast, we pray, we give alms, we make a Lenten confession, as a way of saying, God help me. I fallen into sin, I have failed to love you, help me, to return to you with my whole heart.
Each of us have strayed from God in our own ways: my sins are different from your sins, but what brings us all together today is the recognition that we have sinned, and we need God’s help. For we are in such a sorry state, we can’t return to God on our own, we need God’s help, we need the grace of His Son Jesus.
Allow the grace that flows from Jesus’ Sacred Heart to
repair your broken hearts, to enflame your tepid hearts, to purify your lust-filled hearts, to expand your selfish hearts, to humble your prideful hearts,
to embolden your fearful hearts, to discipline your rebellious hearts, to teach your foolish hearts, to heal your wounded hearts.
Look to Jesus this Lent as often as you can, that you may have Him as your example, of the one whose heart is on fire with Love for the Lord, whose heart is wholly and fully devoted to doing the will of God no matter the suffering involved. Let his Sacred Heart help you to love God with your whole heart that you may be counted among his blessed ones in eternal life for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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That the Church will experience the graces of profound renewal during this season of Lent. We pray to the Lord.
That God will rescue all those who live at a distance from him because of self-absorption or sin. We pray to the Lord.
That all families will recommit themselves to fervent prayer this Lent so as to grow in greater love and holiness. We pray to the Lord.
That this Lent we will be faithful to fasting and to all the ways that the Lord sanctifies us. We pray to the Lord.
For those preparing to enter the Church at Easter: that they will be profoundly blessed in their preparation for full initiation into the Body of Christ. We pray to the Lord.
For the needs of the poor, the hungry, the homeless, those who are sick, unemployed, or suffering from addiction, mental, or physical illness, and those most in need: that the Lord in his goodness will be close to them in their trials. We pray to the Lord.
For all those who have died, for all the poor souls in purgatory, for those who have fought and died for our country’s freedom, and for [intention below], for whom this Mass is offered. We pray to the Lord.
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