As I have three services involving ashes today and have watched yet another relationship crumble to bits through betrayals and lies, I've been pondering ashes and the demise of things. I do not think that this is necessarily a negative thing. When I work in parochial schools or liturgical churches, many dread the Lenten season. I've also loved the idea and the imagery of the Phoenix. I also enjoy the more contemplative sections of the liturgical cycle. So, I do not mind at all that today was the day ashes were crossed upon my head.
Perhaps it's not at all a bad thing to have everything burned down to nothing.
It's been a long day, so I stop philosophizing and simply share some T.S. Eliot:
"Teach us to care and not to care / Teach us to sit still / Even among these rocks, / Our peace in His will / And even among these rocks / Sister, mother / And spirit of the river, spirit of the sea, / Suffer me not to be separated / And let my cry come unto Thee."
Perhaps it's not at all a bad thing to have everything burned down to nothing.
It's been a long day, so I stop philosophizing and simply share some T.S. Eliot:
"Teach us to care and not to care / Teach us to sit still / Even among these rocks, / Our peace in His will / And even among these rocks / Sister, mother / And spirit of the river, spirit of the sea, / Suffer me not to be separated / And let my cry come unto Thee."
I think three services of that would wring me right out. Well, here's my two cents from my very Catholic friend Karen:
ReplyDelete"I will attempt, day by day, to break my will into pieces. I want to do God's Holy Will, not my own!" – St. Gabriel Possenti
gloria mundi
ReplyDeleteso knowing,
what is known?
that we carry our baggage
in our cupped hands
when we burst through the waters of our mother.
that some are born
and some are brought
to the glory of this world.
that it is more difficult
than faith
to serve only one calling
one commitment
one devotion
in one life.
- Lucille Clifton