Ash Wednesday 2023
I have to admit it, I struggle with Lent. To be honest, I like my food too much.
But I deeply appreciate the vital important of this most solemn season of Penance.
This year I have decided to give Lent a real chance.
Reflecting on the power of a good Lent has brought to my mind something I saw on YouTube. If you look on there you will find a number of videos of fishermen and Marine Biologists helping poor beleaguered sea turtles.
They haul them onto a boat and start vigorously scraping of barnacles, parasites and other things that have become stuck to their shells with a brutally sharp knife.
Check out this deeply satisfying video
This is what God wants to do for us during Lent.
In our day to day lives we pick up attachments. We pick up the parasites of our vices. The clutter. The shallow nonsense of our petty loves.
God wants to free us. He wants to scrape off those things that hinder us from Holiness and from Him.
But it is deeply uncomfortable. The knife that He uses is the knife of Penance, Fasting and Suffering.
We, like those sea turtles, wriggle about. We try to escape His loving hands. We like the comfort of our sins.
Lent is the best time for us to allow God to free us from the crustiness of our sins.
Let us ask Our Lady's help, that we let God act. Let's ask for the grace to offer our little penances and sufferings borne patiently until we arrive at Easter Sunday with our souls less crusted.
God bless
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