There is no Christianity without love and forgiveness!  There is no true Christian love that does not include mercy and forgiveness.  In the gospel parable of the so called ‘Prodigal Son’, Jesus reveals the nature of God as unconditional love and compassion.  And this revelation is what he incarnated in his life, death, and resurrection…He continues to incarnate this love now, within our hearts as they are converted, meaning changed, to being opened wider than wide!

“Without communion there is no mission”…Communion communicates mission….“Communion is the substance of mission”.  What are these words of Dom Mauro Giuseppe saying to us?  Is not the core of our mission as monastics communion, communion of heart and mind with God and one another?  There is a creative tension between the ‘I’ that has said ‘yes’ to God and this same ‘I’ that surrenders in the process of creating a ‘we’, a communion of persons who together are giving their lives to God and to building up a world where God’s love always has the final word.

Today, Ash Wednesday, we begin our Lenten observance with the reception of ashes.  In this photo above, Fr Simeon, from St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer Massachusetts, distributes ashes to the sisters.

Fr. Simeon reminded us in today's homily that Lent is about new birth. It mirrors the natural environment and our experience of Spring. Like the plants and trees around us, we hope to shed winter's vestiges and become alive with new growth so that we may resurrect with Christ on Easter. 

Listen to God speaking to the prophet Jeremiah: “This is the new covenant I will make: Deep within them I will plant my Law, writing it on their hearts” (Jer 32: 31,33).  What is a covenant?  It is a relationship between God and the believing community.  It is both personal and communal.  God writes on the heart his Law…the Law of love…this is the new covenant.  This covenant is the eternal word that transcends time and culture…what was written perdures….it is eternal, God given, God sustained.  No evil…nothing has power over what God has written upon the heart, nothing can break this covenant…what is written is the transforming power of God’s love…which contains forgiveness and mercy. 

What is our image of God in terms of divine judgment?  If we examine this question in the Hebrew Bible, we get multiple views and images.  From a God who exacts retribution on its people who go against God’s law and ways.  Then, to a God who relents from the punishment that God initially decides to do after seeing the people turning from their evil ways and repenting in a sincere, humble way.  A repentant people moves the heart of God, causing God to change, to relinquish the destruction God had planned.  Once Jesus comes on the scene, we see a further shift in the image of God, one that is fully embodied by Jesus.