Luke 10:13-16
          Sackcloth & ashes

          13 "Woe to you, Chora'zin! woe to you, Beth-sa'ida! for if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it shall be more tolerable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 15 And you, Caper'na-um, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades. 16 "He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me."

          When I read this passage I get a bit fearful. "He who rejects me, rejects him who sent me". Yikes. Look around my friend, there seems to be a whole lot of rejecting going on all around us. We disrespect others and fail to listen to just about everyone from an aquaintence, to a friend to even our closest loved ones. Then look around the world, see the disrespect among hords of peoples. Nations disrespecting each other, religions disrespecting each other. Whoa to us! I am actually a bit scared .

          The reference to sitting in sackcloth and ashes is something that should be familiar to Catholics. The practice of having ashes placed on one's head goes back to this Jewish custom of repentance.

          Should we be waiting for everyone else to repent? Should we wait for nations to start respecting each other, for the major religions to start respecting each others traditions and views? I'm not so sure that will ever happen. No, the way things happen are from the bottom up. Grass roots, we start as individuals respecting ourselves, then those around us and so our little world gets better and it begins to expand from there. Sometimes the biggest change comes from the smallest decision to simply make the effort.

          I get frightened when I realize that every time we disrespect ourselves and others, this reading tells us, we are disrespecting God. Further, we will pay the price for it if we continue.

          As they say on ash wednesday, repent and be saved.