We begin the joyful season of Lent. The very word should comfort us, since “Lent” comes from the Old English word, “lenten,” which means “spring.” In the midst of a relentless winter, if you’re like me, you can hardly wait until spring! (Of course, we’re talking here “Springtime for the Soul!”)

The Ash Wednesday readings present three central truths about the season of Lent. 1.) It starts with God’s initiative; 2.) Lent is communal, public, universal, even primal; 3.) It is also, paradoxically, intensely personal, even private.

1.) God’s initiative, another word for grace. “Return to me with your while heart,” says God. It’s a lover’s cry! Way back when I was in college, there was a popular song entitled, “My Heart Cries for You.” It went something like this (and imagine God is singing it to you): “My heart cries for you, sighs for you, dies for you. My heart longs for you. Oh, please, come back to me.” It is our God, who delights and dwells in each one of us, who is inviting us into greater intimacy. In the words of a Lenten hymn, “Long have I waited for your coming home to Me and living deeply our new life.”

2.) Lent is communal, public, universal, primal. Everyone is invited. “Call an assembly, let everyone gather, even the children and babies, as well as the elderly and those recently married.” It’s about solidarity, our common identity as humans, as earthlings and about our eternal destiny. The Church looks to the birth of new members, but also to the future and salvation of all humanity. TOGETHER, we acknowledge the disconnect between people, and the brokenness of our relationships with one another and with the earth itself. The ashes we are signed with remind us all of our common divine origin: “Remember, humankind, you are stardust, and into stardust you shall return.” In remembering the truth of where we come from, we become more open to the truth that we really are: the beautiful handiwork and dwelling place of a creating, redeeming God, Who is love.

3.) Though Lent is communal and universal, it is also intensely personal, even private. God calls each of us in the depths of our hearts. Depending upon where we are personally with God and others, our celebration of Lent will be different from last year’s, as well as different form everyone else’s. (God practices “cura personalis.”) Maybe this year I need a Lenten practice of coming to terms with something or someone. Or maybe I need to let go of anger, sadness, resentment, or remorse. St. Ignatius advises us to look closely at our attachments and comforts. We might call these addictions, and I would guess that 99 percent of us are addicted to something, whether eating, drinking, shopping, blaming, needing to be right or in control, or even saving others. What is an addiction? Anything we use to fill the empty place inside of us that belongs to God alone. Nothing is too small to give up, and the stakes are immense: making space, room for God in our lives.

So, we begin a journey today – together but solo too – a journey of returning home to the God Who creates, cares for, and caresses us. We remember. We wake up – from the nightmare of what the world says we are – customers and consumers, buyers and sellers – to the sweet dream of who God says we are: the work of God’s hands and the joy of God’s heart, tenderly formed from stardust in the very image of the Love that created us. Love, which created us, is who we are.

Let this be a Great Awakening, as we remember and celebrate our connection with our Source. And let us gaze on the One who goes before us, Jesus, who knew no sin, but became sin for us, so that we can recover our primal holiness, the righteousness of God. In the secrecy of our hearts, where the life of God is hidden, we respond to God, we choose God over everything else.

If we do this together, if we open our hearts to one another and to all, we will be channels of unity, love and peace to the whole world – in the words of Paul, heralds and instruments of reconciliation. Then there will be an explosion of miracles that will completely transform us! And these 40 days will truly be the joyful season of Lent.