1st Sunday of Lent 13.3.11 To dust we shall return
On Ash Wednesday we receive the ashes with the words, Remember, man, that you are dust and to dust you shall return.
We know that there is more to us than dust, insofar as we have immortal souls. So if my body returns to dust yet I live on in my soul.
But our bodies are dust and this is a timely reminder against vanity and any false sense of independence.
Our bodies - which we go to so much trouble to make look good and which we pamper with comfort – share the same matter as the rest of nature.
We must never forget our dependence on God for life and all we have.
Without Him we would still be dust. As it is He will let us return to that state as a penalty for our sins, and as preparation for a more glorious re-making.
We are frail creatures; frail in two senses.
One, our physical duration is so brief and so vulnerable. We could be killed at any moment and in all sorts of ways.
Two, in the moral sense, that we set ourselves for big things only to fail very easily. Who can avoid sin altogether for any length of time?
So we accept the reminder of our lowliness and resolve to live with that always in mind.
We ‘remember’ our status before God to prevent ourselves from becoming proud.
We are tempted to put ourselves on equal terms with Almighty God.
This is what Adam and Eve did. They were told they would be like gods if they ate the forbidden fruit. It was a lie but they believed it.
Every sin since that one has been an assertion of human pride against God. God tells me I cannot do such and such a thing; I say, who does He think He is to be telling me what to do. I do the forbidden thing and I become aware I have damaged myself.
It happens every day. We forget our place. We forget we are made of dust.
The saints and spiritual writers of earlier ages would write about the human condition in very unflattering terms.
They would say things like.... You will consider yourself as a snail that soils everything with its slime, as a toad that poisons everything with its venom, as a malevolent serpent seeking only to deceive. (St Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary)
These days the emphasis is more on affirming people, telling them they are special, unique, precious etc.
Both descriptions are true because they are talking about different aspects of the same reality.
We are special etc in terms of how God values each one of us. We are immortal souls destined (or at least meant) for eternal union with God.
But we are worm-like insofar as we choose to assert ourselves against the God who creates us and insult His infinite majesty with our pretensions.
And even if we were good all the time we would still infinitely inferior compared with the majesty of God. We are so far below Him.
Thus again we recall we are dust. It keeps us in check for as long as we can remember it.
In the present era the concept of worship of God for His greatness alone has been diminished. God is addressed in more familiar language, more like an equal. Yes, He does want us to approach Him but always to remember our dependent status. We are no more equal to Him than an ant to the solar system.
We can still come rejoicing into His presence, however, all the more grateful for His mercy and His good intentions towards us.
When we realize how easily we might not exist and how totally we deserve to have been wiped out before now, we really can sing His praises with conviction.
And we become more resistant to the snares and wickedness of the devil who tries always to flatter us and bring out our pride – which leads to sin and degradation.
We will not fall for his tricks again. When we humble ourselves we are exalted.
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