Mortality (February 29, 2020)

 Last week I attended Ash Wednesday Mass. I had always received the ashes as a test, with the intention of examining my life and leaving behind bad habits, weaknesses, and sins—a soul-cleaning. And that's fine, because, as the priest said, by receiving the ashes we show that we are there because we want to change. However, this time I remembered something I once heard and that I read in an article that day: "Dust you are, and to dust you shall return." For the first time, and perhaps thanks to the widespread fear of COVID-19, better known as coronavirus, I saw myself in those ashes. I say for the first time because I almost never think about the fact that one day I will have to die. I remember once, during Mass, a priest asked those who knew they would be alive the next day to raise their hands. Yes, I was the only one to raise my hand, and upon realizing my mistake, I slowly lowered it, ashamed. "No one has a guarantee on life," as the saying goes. Although we sometimes live as if that were the case. Hence the importance of remembering our own mortality, repenting, and believing in the Gospel, for one day, when we least expect it, we will stand before God, judged for our good and bad deeds. One day our bodies will cease to exist, and if we wish to be resurrected at the end of time, we must necessarily change for the better now. Now, Isaiah tells us, now is the time of salvation. Let us not procrastinate our conversion. Today, God is waiting for us with open arms. Jesus wants to take us by the hand and walk beside us. The Holy Spirit needs us to allow ourselves to be guided by Him. Let us remember that one day we will be dust, and then it will be too late. Let us use this Lenten season to draw closer to God, as the Church asks of us, through prayer, penance, and works of charity. The priest reminded us that prayer is precisely about drawing closer to God, not only to ask Him for something, but also to get to know Him by reading the Bible or other devotional readings, and by praying the Rosary. Let us approach confession sincerely, let us resolve not to waste the grace we have received, and let us leave our sins in the confessional, in the hands of God's mercy, so that Jesus himself may cleanse our souls and leave them as white as snow. Let us keep them that way. Let us help our neighbors, let us volunteer in our parish, let us visit the sick and the elderly. And if the coronavirus is to frighten us, let it be to straighten our path, to place our trust in the Lord, and thus, when God so wills, we will not die but will reach heaven to enjoy his presence, or purgatory to be purified so that we may enter his holy presence. And let us pray, let us ask for those affected by this disease, that God may heal them, not only in body, but also in spirit.