Be All You Can Be

Scripture Readings for Ash Wednesday can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/030514.cfm

A number of years ago there was an ad campaign for the US Army that went, "Be All You Can Be!" I was thinking of that today and how it can be applied to our Catholic/Christian faith and this time of prayer, fasting and penance. God, through the Church, is calling us into relationship with him during this time of Lent. We are normally self-centered, and selfish. We think only of ourselves, rather than putting God in the center of our lives, and caring for those God has placed in our lives.

St. Paul reminds us that, "... we are ambassadors for Christ..." (2 Corinthians 5:20). An ambassador represents the country or person to others. When people see an ambassador, they see the country or person they represent. Can people see Christ when they see us? We are to be like Christ in all who we are. We are to "be all we can be!" We are to be Christ-centered in our behavior towards all those we meet.

In our gospel from St. Matthew, our Lord is reminding us to make sure that we are doing righteous deeds and fasting for the right reasons! We are not doing it for recognition from other people, but rather for love of God and love of those around us. Jesus is calling us to have God in the center of all our actions. This coincides with what the prophet Joel, in our first reading, tells us, "Rend your hearts, not your garments,and return to the LORD, your God..." Joel 2:13. This means that we are to put aside our sinful ways that take us from God. We are to turn away from gossip, slandering, lustful behavior. We are to put aside all those things that take us away from God, and turn to God with repentance and love. We are to "be all we can be" for God.