Lenten Reflection: Dirt, Debt, Death
21 Mar 2025 | Office for Mission and Identity (OMI)
There are some words that outright reflect things that none of us would normally desire. We have been sold many products to help us accomplish cleanliness because dirt is a big no in our spaces, on our clothes and even in our minds. Financial stability being a most crucial aspect of living these days leads us all to aim to veer away from debt because to have one tells us we may not be in a very good place. And death, while unavoidable, is a topic that is often painful to tackle and experience, bringing out discomfort, sorrow and even fear.
Inasmuch as we avoid these three, no less than our God came face-to-face with each of them for our sake. Physically suffering and literally falling on his feet while carrying the cross, dirt added insult to injury during Jesus’ most difficult moments. Debt was also a reality He faced when He was the one who paid the ransom to free us from the consequences of sin’s darkness. And death, of course, was the ultimate sacrifice He made, with His final hours leading up to it full of anguish, pain and sorrow. These three are human possibilities, realities, that our loving Lord allowed Himself to encounter.
We can never know what is in our Creator’s heart unless we look at how he endured these usually negative things because of us, for us, from us. And it is only through His goodness and His passion that we can find hope and redemption even in such unattractive, undesirable and unhappy things. These days of Lent may we allow ourself to be reminded that nothing evil, nothing ugly, nothing painful can ever be more powerful than Him who is the Source of everything good, true and beautiful. And we can look deep inside and ask: what dirt, debt or death am I experiencing literally and figuratively that I pray to God to transform into something wonderful? Dirty, indebted or dying as we may be in whatever excruciating meaning they have, Jesus lived through them all and came out triumphant, desiring to share His paradise with us.
May mga salitang lantarang sumasalamin sa mga bagay na hindi natin kadalasang ninanais. Marami nang naibentang produkto upang makamit natin ang kalinisan sapagkat ayaw natin ng dumi sa ating mga tahanan, damit at maging isip. Isang mahalagang bahagi ng pamumuhay ang usaping pinansyal at naglalayon tayong lumayo sa utang dahil kapag mayroon tayo nito, tila hindi maalwan ang ating kalagayan. At ang kamatayan, bagaman hindi maiiwasan, ay isang paksang karaniwang masakit pag-usapan at maranasan, at nagdudulot ng pagkaligalig, pighati, o maging pangamba.
Umiiwas tayo sa tatlong ito subalit walang iba kung hindi ang ating Diyos ang humarap sa bawat isa sa mga ito para sa ating kapakanan. Sa Kanyang pagdurusang pisikal at sa pagbagsak Niya sa lupa mula sa pagbubuhat ng krus, pinaigting ng dumi ang pasakit sa Kanya sa pinakamahihirap na sandali. Naging realidad din Niya ang utang sapagkat Siya ang nagbayad upang palayain tayo sa dulot na karimlan ng kasalanan. At tigib sa dalamhati, dusa at dalita ang mga huling oras Niya na nauwi sa kamatayan at naging sukdulan Niyang sakripisyo. Itong tatlong karanasan ay mga pantaong posibilidad, realidad, na hinayaan ng ating mapagmahal na Panginoon na danasin Niya.
Hindi natin kailanman mababatid ang laman ng puso ng ating Tagapaglikha kung hindi natin titingnan kung paano Niyang tiniis itong mga mapait na karanasang kinaharap Niya dahil sa atin, para sa atin, mula sa atin. At sa pamamagitan lamang ng Kanyang kabutihan at pagkakaloob kung kaya makasusumpong tayo ng pag-asa at pagliligtas kahit pa sa pinakapangit, pinaka-kasuklam-suklam at pinakamapait na mga bagay gaya ng mga ito. Ngayong mga araw ng Kuwaresma, hayaan natin ang sariling maalala na walang kasamaan, walang kalunus-lunos, walang kapaitan ang kailanman magiging mas makapangyarihan sa Kanya na Bukal ng lahat ng mabuti, tunay at marilag. At nawa tumingin tayo sa ating kalooban at magtanong: anong dumi, pagkakautang at kamatayan ang nararanasan ko sa literal at matalinghagang paraan na ipinagdarasal kong pagpanibaguhin ng Diyos? Marumi, lubog sa utang at namamatay man tayo sa anumang nakapipilipit na kahulugan ng mga ito, pinagdaanan na ni Hesus ang lahat ng iyon at Kanyang napagtagumpayan, at hangad Niyang ibahagi sa atin ang paraisong Kanyang tahanan.
#ateneoishome #aihlentenreflections
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