Hello, season of Lent! This is the time of year those blessed ashes I was marked with kick off my mindfulness and spiritual “spring cleaning.” I am praying for a long-lasting effect. God knows it’s not easy to stay that kind of mindful for forty days, let alone a whole year. It’s almost like New Year’s resolutions – the commitment wears off a couple of weeks into it. But, the goal here, at least mine, is to turn away from the lesser things and focus on the meaningful ones.
For me, Lent is not so much about what I give up, but about what I want to take up: a positive outlook, patience, compassion, forgiveness. Very well-meaning resolutions, but yeah, a bit challenging.
You want to join me in this Lenten challenge? Let’s do it. Let’s take up and lift up!
For the meaning of this season, and a chance to grow in my faith, I am grateful .
What are you thankful for today?
Until next Thursday’s post…si Dios quire.
“No act of virtue can be great if it is not followed by advantage for others. So, no matter how much time you spend fasting, no matter how much you sleep on a hard floor and eat ashes and sigh continually, if you do no good to others, you do nothing great.”
-J. Chrysostom
”So let us be marked
not for sorrow.
And let us be marked
not for shame.
Let us be marked
not for false humility
or for thinking
we are less
than we are
but for claiming
what God can do
within the dust,
within the dirt,
within the stuff
of which the world
is made,
and the stars that blaze
in our bones,
and the galaxies that spiral
inside the smudge
we bear.”
-J. Richardson
Thankful that I get to share this Lenten season with my husband. It was a beautiful way to start this season and I will never forget how it felt this Ash Wednesday mass sharing in this experience together.