Memento, homo

So, here it is, today .. Ash Wednesday.

Today I will hear my Priest say:

I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.

Since the Fourth Lateran Council ruled that all Christians were to go to confession at least once a year during Lent, and long before, Christians have been observing this Season. This year I have avoided thinking about Lent when I could - things are so crazy in my life with my brother's impending death and all the grief that entails. Yet, no matter what, Time flows on and the Church Year rolls around. Here we are, once again.

So then, since I can't avoid it, how will I follow Jesus, as He spends forty days in the wilderness? My life seems a lot like a wilderness now, but I know He has walked this path before and along side as I walk mine.  I haven't been able to focus on much this year, but my daily Rosary for my "Seven Okalhoma Angels", weekly attendance at Stations of the Cross, additional Prayer at the Monastery are a few things that wil be added to my walk.   

Even though my world is full of images of death, returning to dust isn't what I want to think about today.  Br. Thomas Merton says:

"THE cross, with which the ashes are traced upon us, is the sign of Christ's victory over death. The words "Remember that thou art dust and that to dust thou shall return" are not to be taken as the quasi-form of a kind of "sacrament of death" (as if such a thing were possible). It might be good stoicism to receive a mere reminder of our condemnation to die, but it is not Christianity."

Therefore before this community as well as my own, I commit to the observance of a holy Lent. And once again, the flow of Time continues - from Ashes to Easter, from death to Life.

The ashes of this Wednesday will be to me a sign of my mortality and penitence, but they are also a reminder that only by His gracious Gift that everlasting Life is promised anew; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

Memento, homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris.
Remember, human, that you are dust, and to dust you will return
--Genesis 3:19

Comments

[Joe]

Thank you for your thoughtful post. This struggle that you have allowed us to be a part of is a true testament of what the community of faith is all about.