Repent and believe the good news!
Ash Wednesday is a day to spend some time reflecting on how we have sinned against God, our neighbour and God’s creation.
Begin your meditation by taking this carbon footprint calculator. WWF have produced several for your own context (or similar context)
http://wwf.panda.org/how_you_can_help/live_green/footprint_calculator/
And then spend some time reflecting on your own impact on God’s earth. What damage have you and your family been responsible for?
“God of mercy, we come before you seeking forgiveness because we know how much we have failed you. You created a world of beauty, you gave your people paradise. But we have not been good stewards of the earth we inherited. The rivers are polluted: the air in our cities is made impure, forests are felled and fertile land turned to desert, animals and treated with cruelty and for pride and greed, whole species are endangered”
Remember that the ashes on your forehead are created from the burnt palms of last Palm Sunday. New beginnings invariably come from old things that are allowed to die. Today is the first step of a new way of living. You cannot change world in 40 days, but if you let God touch you, then you can make a world of difference in your own life. So today you must pray for the desire to desire a simpler more compassionate life-style! For you will eventually get what you really desire. You cannot begin to desire something if you have not already slightly tasted it. Now make that deep and hidden desire conscious, deliberate, and wholehearted.
Make your desires good and far-reaching on this Ash Wednesday of new beginnings. You could not have such desires if God had not already desired them first— with you and in you and through you!
(adapted from Richard Rohr)
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