Monday of the 2nd Week of Lent
Dan 9:4-10
Lk 6:36-38
…rescue us for the sake of your name.
When receiving ashes, one of the lines the priest says is ‘Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.’ Today’s readings greatly emphasize this, and I’ve realised that I needed the reminder, because it’s so easy to forget this fact.
In our society, we advise people to stay away from others who make them feel small or belittled. That’s why I’m so amazed that instead of feeling belittled, the reminder that I was from dust, and will return to dust, makes me feel greatly loved instead. Similarly, the way the Psalmist implores God to rescue him for the ‘sake of (his) name,’ doesn’t feel like it’s out of fear. It feels like it’s filled with awe and wonder of God’s goodness.
It is indeed true that rescuing us does not add anything to God. We can’t even offer anything to him to make us worthy of being rescued. The Psalmist appeals to God, saying it’s for the sake of his name. There is nothing the Psalmist could offer God, and even everything we have comes from God.
Yet, God gave up his son to rescue us, who are made from dust, and would return to dust. It just emphasizes how tremendous God’s love is for us. Our Christian faith is filled with paradoxes, and maybe one of those paradoxes is when we are reminded of our nothingness, that’s when we could feel most loved.
I know we are just in the second week of Lent. We still have a long way to go before the end of abstinence. I hope that as we do our prayers, fasting, abstinence and almsgiving, we realize that nothing of ours is ours. And in this realisation, we’ll feel how greatly God loves us.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Stephanie Villa)
Prayer: Lord, help us find joy in our nothingness before you.
Thanksgiving: Thank you, Lord, for loving me — someone from dust.
OXYGEN 
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