14 February 2024 - Only By Grace Reflections

TOPIC: HOW OFTEN DO WE STOP AND EXAMINE OUR MOTIVATIONS?

First Reading: Joel 2: 12-18
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 51: 3-4, 5-6ab, 12-13, 14 and 17
Second Reading: Second Corinthians 5: 20 – 6:2
Verse Before the Gospel: Psalms 95: 8
Gospel: Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-18

The Lenten season is the Catholic Church's GPS, made available for our use as we set ourselves on a long journey through narrow and rough paths of an exciting spiritual destination. The journey is long and arduous, and we often take wrong exits or digress into dangerous alleys. Today is Ash Wednesday, the start of the season of Lent which gives us the means to recognize our errors, locate the right route, and get back on the path to our right destination. Lent is a time to repent, a time to step back and examine our lives. We receive ashes on our forehead, as a symbol of the reality that we came forth from the earth and when we die, we return back to the earth. The imposition of ashes brings us back on the way to true conversion. The words that accompany the offering of ashes remind us that we will die and become dust. That is not the real ending, though. We will live eternally, and hopefully, with God!

This is the 1388th installment of our CFC contemplation series focusing on the daily liturgical readings.

[NOTE: As we continue to pray for Bro Bong Arjonillo’s healing and recovery, let us listen to our brother Raymond Bucu, South Asia Regional Coordinator and Provincial Area Head of Bataan, as he brings us today's reflection.

All the regular reflections are between 3-7 minutes long, enough time for us to ponder what God's message is for us individually and to pray that we may live them out in our lives. This video is also available on Couples for Christ’s Facebook page. In