ASH WEDNESDAY

Ash Wednesday is a sign, in which the season of Lent is about to start. Lenten season is a 40 days wherein different forms of sacrificial love is happening. This is my personal reflection. What's yours?

According to catholic daily reflections, 40 days of Lent are to be an imitation of Jesus' 40 days in the desert. In fact, we are called not only to "imitate" Jesus' time in the desert, we are called to live this time with Him, in Him and through Him. 

Jesus did not personally need to spend 40 days of fasting and prayer in the desert so as to obtain a deeper holiness. He is holiness itself! He is the Holy One of God. He is the perfection. He is the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity. He is God. But Jesus entered into the desert to fast and pray so as to invite us to join Him and to receive the transforming qualities He manifested in His human nature as He endured the suffering of those 40 days. 

My personal reflection goes like this:

While going home and reflecting on God's message. My personal reflection of Lenten season is full of sacrificial love. Disconnecting from the taste of the world, to be able to reconnect to the source of everything is a form of love, and definitely sacrifices is present. Fasting, from our favorite things to do, and eat is a sacrifice. Giving even we don't really have is also a sacrifice. And even constant praying and asking for His divine intervention and connection is also a sacrifice (even, we actually do it in a daily basis). But those sacrifices built because of love. Because we love Him, we do it for Him. 

But this different sacrificial love has been divided into different forms such as: Loving God, Loving Yourself and Loving Others/ neighbors. When we pray, our connection to the source of everything deepens. We practice to seek His love even more. As we fast from our favorite things to do and eat, we exercise to love our self. Because a healthy body, mind and soul is equivalent of loving our self even more. Giving to the needy in any forms like our time, talent and treasure is showing how we love our neighbors. Neighbors is one of the gifts of the Lord that He entrusted to us. 

And so, these different Love is sacrificial, but this is also the ways of the Lord when He redeemed us. His love for us is Sacrificial Love. He can do anything for us, even how painful it is. His body lying in the cross is a manifestation of His great love. As what the catholic daily reflection reminded us, this is a season that we are guiding to the road of Holiness. This is a preparation of how we can even more to be Like Him, in Him and through Him. May we enjoy the different forms of sacrificial love as we enter in this season of Lent!

#FullyAlive

#LentenSeason