Ash Wednesday

See more of my cartoons at http://tmal.multiply.com/photos/album/2

So what does God want? Our money? Our freedom? Of course not. Yet, He gave His very Son, so doesn't He deserve everything we have? He desires our hearts, our souls, and our minds, He loves us so much that He wishes that we'd love Him back, with all our strength. Yet all he asks is that we love mercy, do justly, and walk humbly with him (Micah 4:8).

I'd like to give up my anger, arrogance, lust, coveting, gluttony etc. etc. But the question is, am I doing it for Him, or as a form of "self-improvement?" And let's face it, I can't go sinless, even for just 40 days. Oh, I'll see how many days I can make it without coffee, no TV during certain hours, and I'll try to eat less and less often, but let's face it. God doesn't need me to go on a diet, what He wants, is for me to want Him and to recognize that I need Him. That's what having a contrite heart means. So what should we fast from?

This "verse and voice" from Sojourners' Magazine are certainly poignent:

Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

- Isaiah 58:6-7

"The helping of others, the giving of alms, and all external goods don't calm the arrogance of the heart. Humility of the mind, the pain of repentance and the breaking of the will, however, humble the proud spirit." ~Elder Joseph the Hesychast

Me ka pule,
Pirate Ted