According to the dictionary, an oblation is an offering, something presented to or offered to God. The gifts of bread and wine are given to God as an oblation in our mass. It struck me that in our reading from Sirach today, it explains that when we keep God’s law, it is an oblation or offering given to him. I guess I never really consciously thought of it as that way. It certainly adds to our understanding of why we are called to keep God’s law and commandments. Sirach goes on to say that the one who keeps God’s commandments gives a peace offering to God. Tomorrow, we enter the holy season of Lent with our observance of Ash Wednesday. I really love the season of Lent. I really love this time when we look into our how hearts to see how we have missed the mark, to see where we have failed on our journey of faith and where we need reconciliation and wholeness and healing in our lives. Ash Wednesday is one of the most crowded days in our church. It shows how much the holy season of Lent resonates with the faithful. The last couple of weeks we heard passages from the Sermon on the Mount, in which Jesus tried to break through the false piety and rigidity and hardness of heart that the Pharisees had in the way they approached God’s laws and commandments. Recently, Pope Francis warned the faithful of a rigidity of heart as well, saying that while meekness, forgiveness, benevolence, and goodness are gifts from God on our journey of faith, rigidity is not one of those gifts. Pope Francis added that “the law was not drawn up to enslave us but to set us free, to make us God’s children”. As we end Ordinary Time today and get ready for our commemoration of Lent, may we see our lives and our love of God’s laws and commandments as an oblation to God and a gift of our faith.
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