I am tempted to say “again” for there is always the danger of this season of “self-examination and repentance” (Book of Common Prayer) being repetitive. Just as it was last year, and the one before that. I know that I am strong enough in will to give up chocolate and sweets for Lent so I will do it again this year. I also know that my reading of the Daily Offices needs constant attention, so, again, this year I will make it my focus. Just as I did last year.
Lent in the parish began favorably yesterday, Ash Wednesday, with an encouraging number of people turning out (on a cold day with snow flurries) to both masses, and receiving ash on their foreheads. The numbers of people were slightly increased by the astonishing fact that a neighboring parish had no Ash Wednesday service. “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Those words are poignant enough as it is, but made even the more so when they are administered to a child, and to one’s own daughter.
As part of my Lenten discipline this year I intend to read and study more. The study will go without saying as I have to prepare for the weekly parish program, but the reading will be more difficult. I have it in mind to re-visit one or more of the classics that once shaped my thinking. One title is at the front of my mind, but more about that later.
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