Remember the ash
Repent and believe in the Good News. Remember you are dust, and unto dust, you shall return. You must have heard either of these statements yesterday as the ash was imposed on your forehead. Even though everyone who comes across us sees the sin of the ash on our forehead, it is expected to have a deeper meaning for us upon whom it is placed. The principle is simple. Remember you are dust, and unto dust, you shall return. Yes, the flesh is dust. It will go back to where it came from. But life was not given to us to die. Life is God’s gift to us to live here and continue with him in heaven. However, for that life not to turn into dust like the body, it must repent over and over again, and believe in the good news. Lent always begins with this profound depth of meaning.

We may easily gloss over it because it is exciting. But it calls for continuous recollecting at every step of the journey. The ash may have wiped off our foreheads, after the Ash Wednesday. The excitement of being identified as one who received the ash may have faded. But we ought to remember the significance of the ash. Well, it comes only once in a year. But a reflective mind bent on growing in relationship with God will always try to remember the ash and its significance. Wear this bracelet today. Remember the ash and its profound significance. Tell yourself that its significance does not stop on Ash Wednesday. Decide to let your mind recall that you are dust, and unto dust, you shall return. But repentance and faith in the good news grant your soul unlimited joy in the end.
Give to the needy
This bracelet must surely occur. It is such an important action which ought to form part of our daily existence. That the Church lays it down for us as one of the pillars for the season of Lent underscores its huge significance. Indeed, as of every action which the holy season encourages us to take on, in view of making us better Christians who know, love and serve God in our neighbours, giving to the needy, should permeate our lives. It is true that no one is too poor not to have something to share, and no one is too rich not to be in need of something from the other. We encourage one another often to have a good heart. But it counts for nothing if it is not expressed in practical action. In such a clime as we live today, when in many parts of our world, the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer, it takes a real good heart to share what we possess with another who does not have.
To even develop an eye that can search out someone in need is also as demanding, because many of us today live like every man to himself, God for us all. Yet we are supposed to consider others along with ourselves. Of course, it is easier to satisfy oneself without much consideration for others or even at the expense of others. But one of the pillars of the season of Lent, almsgiving, is an invitation to do otherwise. Look around you today, there is someone in need. Share some of your good with him. It will come back to you.
Fast
Fasting is one of the three most significant actions of the season of Lent. The other two as we know are almsgiving and prayer. They are all meant to aid us to be better disciples of Christ, who do not take pleasure in the flesh but aim at growing in life in the Spirit. The reason for this is not farfetched. Our hearts are made for God and are restless until they rest in him. That can only happen if right from here, our souls are disciplined enough to possess the appropriate ability to put the flesh under check. This is not in any way to denigrate the flesh. But it is to make us see that we ought to place priority on life in the Spirit. Hence, fasting from food and abstinence from other things we take pleasure in are huge ways of achieving the foregoing.
It should not be misunderstood that we do not have to fast from food, since for many of us, food is already hard to come by. The motive for fasting from food is not the same as the reason for not eating or eating less for the sake of economic hardship. Things are indeed tough as we speak and many of us do not eat as much as we would love to. But this is an economic problem. Fasting on the other hand is a conscious decision to keep away from food for the sake of spiritual growth. Do not confuse one for the other. We can still fast. We should try to fast, especially in this season. The gains are immense.
Spend more time in prayer
This should be expected to come as one of the bracelets for the season. Given that prayer is one of the pillars of Lent, we ought to devote more time to both personal prayer and the prayer of the Christian community. Ordinarily, as a means of communicating with God, prayer helps us to raise our hearts and minds. When we pray, we get the opportunity to experience oneness with our maker, whose life and breath we carry. Let us remember that at creation, man was ordinary dust until God breathed into him. So, prayer is a lifeline if we truly know its value. Therefore, the value of prayer in the sense expressed above calls us never to joke with our prayer life.
The goal of the season of Lent cannot be fully achieved without the conscious choice to spend more time in prayer. As it is that Lent is a microcosm of what our entire life should be; a preparation for the final resurrection, each of us needs to draw close to the author of our life more. In other words, we need to keep improving our communication with God, day by day. This season gives a great opportunity in that regard. We can learn to pray well enough in such a manner that even amid the noise around us, our minds are fixed on God with whom we communicate. But this can happen only through consistency. Hence, this bracelet today. Spend more time in prayer. Decide on what period you want to use and respect it. Do it over and over.
Encourage someone
In the season of Lent, the call to come closer to God must bear fruit in our actions. As we reflect on the mystery of the presence of Jesus in the desert, and we join him in the acts of penance aimed at making our souls more pleasing to him, we should also try to let the effects reach others. We have the grace to know the value of the yearly observance of Lent, but there may still be so many people around us who may not have even heard about, let alone known the value of the blessings attached to the observance of the season. With so many of us dealing with various challenges on many fronts, it is so easy these days to give in to despair. We may take the chance of this season to let someone know how invaluable he is as a creature of God. One of the good things that the season of Lent teaches us is that we can face challenges, temptations, trials, tribulations and still conquer them.
If we enjoy the opportunity to know this through our experience of the season of Lent, then we should be able to help someone who does not know. A simple word of encouragement will go a long way to assuage the challenges that someone may be facing. It used to be said that a problem shared is a problem half-solved. But it is as well true that today, it is difficult to find someone trustworthy with whom you can share your challenges. This is because a lot of people are so quick to blow too many things open on social media and in gossip. Why not be a trustworthy shoulder for someone to lean on? Wear this bracelet today. Encourage someone sincerely.
Speak a forgiving word
Words are powerful. Words that come out of our mouths can either heal or destroy. When we put away the ego and allow ourselves to forgive, we are able to speak words that heal. It is natural to feel offended when another does something to us which we are not at home with. But hurts are hurts. They never help nor heal. It is already bad enough to be hurt by someone’s misdeed towards us. It is worse when we find it difficult to let go and forgive. We must accept that for some it is easy to let go and forgive, while for some others it is not. However, when we are able to forgive and let go, we heal not only ourselves but those who have offended us.
We could actually go the extra mile to speak a forgiving word to such people. That would mean that there is no victor, nor vanquished, for we realize that we all are in need of the mercy of God. So, as we seek to be more like him, we also desire to do unto others what he does to us, which is to show us mercy and to heal us. Is there someone who has hurt you and you are yet to let go of the hurt? Ask God for the grace to forgive and to speak that forgiveness to such a person. You would not do it in a way or with words which aim to get back at such a person. But with love. You may be surprised that such a person may have been waiting for such an opportunity to reconcile with you. If you are able to do this, it would just be another step in the right direction you are already walking in this season of Lent. Speak a forgiving word today. You will never regret doing so.
• Rev. Fr. Martin Badejo is a Priest of Catholic Diocese of Oyo.