22nd Feb 2023
Ash Wednesday always comes as a bit of a surprise to me. And here we are again.
Yesterday, I found a Christmas bauble from the tree, under the units in the hallway. A remnant of the celebrations and the beautiful season that seem to be only just finished. Is it my age?
Now, today we start the journey of lent . I'll go to Holy Mass as I do most days. But there will be some differences. All the statues will be draped in purple and the priests will be dressed in the same colour. There will be no Alleluia and we'll ask the Lord, "A pure heart create for me O God..." Yes, we'll be reminded that we are sinners.
Of course, we'll also get the ashes:
"Remember man that thou are dust ,
and unto dust thou shalt return."
Later, hubby and I will decided together how to approach the fasting and abstaining that's required of us. And boy, will that be difficult with visitors coming, who we'll try and host without them knowing what we are doing. Obviously if it comes up we'll tell them , but we won't make things difficult for them.
I'm still wondering what I will do for lent.
Give something up?
Have a plan to put charity into practice?
Do something spiritual, like meditating with scripture?
Or all three?
Anyway, this time is given to us to prepare for the wonderful, most important celebration of Our Lord's resurrection at Easter. So , in some way, I'll concentrate on that.
Tell me, how do you approach Lent?
