St. Paul couldn’t use stronger language to try to convince the people of Corinth to do everything in their to turn back to God.
He uses the word “implore”, I “implore you”, I beg you, I plead with you with tears in my eyes. Paul was deeply concerned that the Christians of Corinth were allowing sin and division to turn them away from God. They were in danger, their souls were in danger, because they were allowing sin to reclaim them. They were allowing the powers of darkness and selfishness to reenslave them. They were acting as if Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross was for nothing.
And so he appeals to them “I implore you on behalf of Christ”, he reminds them exactly of what Jesus did for them. Jesus embraced suffering, he embraced death, he died for them, he freed them and liberated them. Remember who you are, O Christians, remember who died for you, remember who you are supposed to be and how you are to act.
“Be reconciled to God”. That word reconciliation, as I’ve mentioned, is a wonderfully descriptive word. It means to turn your face, your eye lashes in fact, back to God. Where you turned your eyelashes away from God by sinning, by coldness, by division, by focusing on earthly matters and selfish pursuits, turn back to God. Everyone of us here, in some way, has taken our eyes off of God.
Maybe we haven’t been praying as we should. Maybe we’ve been to focused on pleasure. Maybe we’ve allowed our earthly business to take precedence over our faith. Maybe you’ve been angry with God or a family member and you need to let go of that anger, you need to forgive. Maybe you’ve been selfish or arrogant and refused to believe the teachings of the Church.
Today is the day where we admit that we have taken our eyes from God, and we receive ashes on our forehead as a sign, that over these next 40 days, we will do everything we can to be reconciled to God. We will fast from food, as a way of showing that we do not live for the pleasures of the flesh alone. We will fast from activities which get in the way of our faith—activities like television, video games, internet browsing, social media. We will pray, we will make extra time every day for prayer, we will go to our inner room and shut the door, as Jesus tells us in the Gospel, and pray, and listen to God. And we will give alms, we will think less about ourselves and more about others, we will consider the ways we can help them. We will turn away from sin, we will go to confession, the sacrament of reconciliation.
We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God: through prayer, fasting, almsgiving and the confession of sins 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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