“Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” are the words we hear as we journey the aisle to receive on our foreheads this reminder of our humble (grounded) beginnings.
“Repent and believe the Good News” is an option.
This is the 34th time celebrating this season of Lent, of intentional Fasting, Prayer & Almsgiving. When I started celebrating this season the desire to “get it right” and “practice Lent well” were very much part of my thought process. I’d choose several things to forego as this “going all in” and “getting it right” were so ingrained in my mind that I missed a key aspect to Lent. That this season is about LOVE, about my response to the person of LOVE, to God. It is the deeper realization that Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving are part of my response to LOVE.
At the beginning of October I will begin teaching 8 weeks on prayer at my Parish. The Contemplation begins now. A friend uses this quote at the end of her email, “Contemplare et contemplata aliis tradere” “to contemplate and to give to others the fruits of contemplation.” Prayer, first and foremost, is the beginning of the relationship with LOVE. Prayer is an ongoing conversation with LOVE. Prayer is sharing the heart (as the whole of our being, rather than the emotional core) with the One Who knew us before we were knit in the secret of our mother’s womb.
It is fitting to begin to ponder prayer and how to teach prayer as this Lenten season begins. Not only what prayer is and how to enter more deeply into this relationship but also to ponder the fruit of prayer. I’ve noticed that a lot lately. Like a conversation wherein I recognize that the person in front of me is a mystery to be treasured rather than solved. That judging them – actually convicting them of some crime or fault – is not good and actually shows me one of my own faults in need of remedy and forgiveness. That judging diminishes rather than builds up. That determining this person is not worthy of my presence actually diminishes me, the loss is mine as there is a wealth of beauty right there.
The experience of spending time with people who I believed I would struggle with and placing myself in a posture of listening rather than presuming/assuming gave me the fruit of getting to know them, showing me my own fears, and a richness and depth to the experience that allowed me see the person in front of me with their complexities and the gift of who they are.
Later today I’ll go get the ashes on my forehead with the reminder that I am dust and to dust I shall return. United with the entire Church I enter this season beginning with prayer & fasting. I begin here too with almsgiving.
There remains in me all the desires to do this well and get it right and let Lent bear good fruit. And there is the desire to let LOVE hold me close.
May you fall ever more in love with LOVE.
Happy Lent,
Teri
A Quilter's Heart 