Unto that dust you shall return

Forty days and forty nights, He fasted and prayed in the desert.

He resisted the 'divine' promises that were false.

produce bread with a word of command

prove yourself to be the Son of God by foolish heroism, an exhibition of divine power, even supported by the Word of God

make everything under your possession by an act of worship.

After he heard the voice that he was the son of God, in fasting he resisted against the falsities of God; what god is not.

With loud cries and bitter tears, he offered his prayers and supplications to the father who would hear him. He was heard because of his faithfulness. His way of prayer and fasting was of emptying, not with any expectation of gaining. We may have everything, managing power, resources, miracles, ... but may lack Christ. That is the time we need to fast and earnestly pray for the grace of self emptying.

Self emptying is the key to get the true depth of our prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. By emptying ourselves we are giving more space for God. By emptying ourselves we are getting a clarity of vision to see better the reality of the lives of our brothers and sisters in compassion and mercy. It is by self emptying we are preparing our hearts for the values of the kingdom of God.

Pope Francis reminds us this year that itis the time to sow the seeds of goodness. Often, we are overly concerned about removing what is bad. Weeding is important, but if we do not have a plan of sowing, and harvesting, it is of no use. Only by filling our lives with good things, we overcome what is evil. What exactly is this 'good' we are trying to grow within? It is the likeness of Christ that we desire for ourselves during this season. What may be the likeness that I have with Christ today? What may be the New Person of me after I put on Christ? It is a dream of Christ, a dream of the kingdom of God within ourselves.

The grain of wheat dies, but at the same time there is a process of germination. So, the self-emptying that we want to live these days is a graceful death, a life-giving death. The focus is not on our sins and failures, but on life and fruitfulness in grace. The repentance that is called for is to lay yourself down unto the ground we are from. The dust that the scripture points to is not a handful of lifeless dust, it is soil where life can grow, and bear fruit. The dust that you are is not meaningless and lifeless, the dust that you are have been given the grace to be transformed into the image of Christ. So, this season is to mould ourselves into the children of God, walking the way of Christ. The imitation of Christ is not a melancholic journey, inflicting pain and misery. Self surrender, trust, gratitude, sacrifice, generosity, and love, peacefulness are the basics of the way of Christ. Pain devoid of these cannot lead us to carry the cross.

The path does not begin at the palace of Pilate. It began from a simple family of Nazareth, from a humble birth in Bethlehem. We cannot enter into the likeness of Christ, the kingdom of God, if we are not born again. In the way of Christ, we too will have the experience of hearing the voice “you are my beloved son/ daughter in whom I have well pleased.” God’s eyes do not look for the sins we carry, they see the life that can be filled in our emptiness and brokenness. Rise up from the dust that we are, be close to Him in trust and hope, receive strength and guidance from him, and gradually, from one degree to another we will be transformed into the image of Jesus, even to a self-emptying and life giving dying, and rising to the fullness of life. Unto that dust you must return.