The Message Today

This year's Ash Wednesday comes a day after a bombing in Davao City where several people died and were wounded. "Turn away from sin and live the Gospel," that was the priest's message to me and to all of us who went to church today for the imposition of the ashes.

What yesterday's and today's events remind me is that we can go anytime. Those people in the waiting shed near the Davao International Airport, for example, probably had no inkling of what was to happen.

And so, let us take to heart the message of Ash Wednesday and the day before Ash Wednesday. Life is short. It can be taken anytime. Let us live the Gospel then, turn away from sin (easier said than done, right?) so that even if death comes suddenly, we will be ready. No regrets.