The Call of Ash Wednesday

I committed myself to living a year as though it were my last. To practice dying. To be fully alive. To investigate the dread of, and resistance to, life and death. To complete my birth before it's over. To investigate that part of myself that refuses to take birth fully, and hops about as though it still had one foot in the womb. To enter the healing I have seen so many times as miraculous growth during a final illness. To place both feet on the ground at last. To live with mercy and awareness in the midst of the consequences of love, or the lack thereof. To explore this ground, the ground of being, out of which this impermanent body and ever-changing mind originate. To cut through a lifetime of confusion and forgetfulness. To undertake a life review with gratitude and forgiveness. To explore that which holds to its suffering, and cultivate a heart that cannot be distracted even by death.

Stephen Levine
via inward/outward

+~+~+

a year seems a long while. 40 days, i can try :)

the famous question, "what are you giving up for Lent?" is one my whole family only begins discussing on Fat Tuesday over dinner at our parish's pancake supper. my husband wants to eat healthier, to which we all nodded in affirmation while dipping our sausages into more syrup...molly is on the fence, which is typical and max failed to chime in on anything (he'll be eating healthier once he has his surgery...until then, i think he's "all in!") since he wasn't there.

personally, i am going to not snack between meals, eat more of what God created and less of what man had a hand in, and drink more water and better...oh, sorry, i mean less oh crap!! gee, i mean some --- seriously!! i mean NO alcohol :)

for those of you who have been around, this is my favorite season in the Church. i am pretty penitential as a rule, but this year it has major significance in my life as i am working through some pretty major changes in my world and i am learning more about myself and my God. it's all good.

new links will be appearing for different sites for prayer and reflection during Lent. one of the best, however, is Creighton University's.

peace, all.