Meditation Story for Ash Wednesday: We are Only the Dust, that GOD Created for Love
I would like to open the mediation story with the First Chapter of Ecclesiastes as the First Epistle, from the Holy Bible of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the United States:
Book of Ecclesiastes Chapter 1
1The words of David’s son, Qoheleth, king in Jerusalem:
2Vanity of vanities,* says Qoheleth, vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!
3What profit have we from all the toil which we toil at under the sun?*
4One generation departs and another generation comes, but the world forever stays.
5The sun rises and the sun sets; then it presses on to the place where it rises.
6Shifting south, then north, back and forth shifts the wind, constantly shifting its course.
7All rivers flow to the sea, yet never does the sea become full. To the place where they flow, the rivers continue to flow.
8All things are wearisome,* too wearisome for words. The eye is not satisfied by seeing nor has the ear enough of hearing.
9What has been, that will be; what has been done, that will be done. Nothing is new under the sun!
10Even the thing of which we say, “See, this is new!” has already existed in the ages that preceded us.
11There is no remembrance of past generations; nor will future generations be remembered by those who come after them.*
12I, Qoheleth, was king over Israel in Jerusalem,
13and I applied my mind to search and investigate in wisdom all things that are done under the sun. A bad business God has given to human beings to be busied with.
14I have seen all things that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a chase after wind.*
15What is crooked cannot be made straight, and you cannot count what is not there.*
16j Though I said to myself, “See, I have greatly increased my wisdom beyond all who were before me in Jerusalem, and my mind has broad experience of wisdom and knowledge,”
17yet when I applied my mind to know wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly, I learned that this also is a chase after wind.
18For in much wisdom there is much sorrow; whoever increases knowledge increases grief.*
And Our Lord’s Parable of the Good Samaritan according to Saint Luke as the Second Epistle, also from the Holy Bible of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the United States:
The Gospel according to Saint Luke, Chapter 10
29But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30Jesus replied, “A man fell victim to robbers as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead.
31* A priest happened to be going down that road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side.
32Likewise a Levite came to the place, and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side.
33But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight.
34He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn and cared for him.
35The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, ‘Take care of him. If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.’
36Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?”
37He answered, “The one who treated him with mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
The first formula of Ash Wednesday, as us, the Catholic Christians, having already know is derived from the Scripture which is used for at the Book of Genesis (3:19), “For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” In fact, the context of the epistle is so powerful, that describes how human world it is in implicit way since the day one. Yeah, we can debate whether sin is a constructed term nor it is from GOD Himself, especially after Adam and Eve ate the fruit of wisdom of the good and evil, but at least we know, humanity is so curious of everything until they challenge themselves to the limit, whether from the Almighty GOD Himself or from the boundary they have in the front of their own eyes.
If you ever heard of the statement, “if GOD is not exist, why Beauty exists,” I might say this is probably having the same root from the context of Adam and Eve since in the Garden of Eden. Behaviorally, all human’s doings are the product of love, and love produces beauty. There are a lot of poets who tell about this all the times, including Our Glorious and Majesty Poet, Lord Jesus Christ. After all, human is in the image of God, when He created them; whatever male and female, He created them (Genesis 1:27).
“Love all God’s creation, the whole and every grain of sand in it. Love every leaf, every ray of God’s light. Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love.”
— Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, chapter 41
In fact, our ability to love was even still when we were still in the curse of sin; it’s a mysterious thing. Even, there are a lot of good works in the notably non-Christian, non-Abrahamic nation Japan, especially among the comics and animations, their own notable artistic products. When I was writing this, I still read Kaoru Hana wa Rin to Saku by Saka Mikami, a manga about a more prestige Kaoruko who meets and accepts Rintarou from a lower social class. Yeah, we are the dust who love, and GOD wants us to go back to Him and make this love more productive and holy under His absolute sovereignty, as like our common ancestors were still in the Garden of Eden before the sin conquered us all.
Let’s using this moment of Great Retreat, annually, for always remember who we are in truest way, the Way, the Truth, and the Life of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, for loving.
Have a Blessed Great Retreat of Lent!
