Ash Wednesday
Lent, the great and holy fast, comes upon us again.
“Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
These words spoken to us were spoken to Adam and Eve as the Lord admonished them before their exile. When we repeat these words, we remember that we continue that journey into the fallen world.
The ashes we receive remind us of two things.
First, they remind us of our own mortality. Death is a reality for each of us, but God wants to raise us, even now. Lent is not just about a minor course correction in our life but about a death and resurrection, Christ’s, and ours through Him. Second, ashes remind us of our sinfulness and need for repentance.
In recognising our mortality, sinfulness, and need for the Lord, Jesus speaks to us through the Gospel about the three practices that help us to die to ourselves and to live faithfully according to the Gospel.
Prayer helps us die to our own ego to put on the mind of Christ. Almsgiving has us think of others’ needs and act to help them, rather than be obsessed about our own needs and wants. Fasting helps us to control our fleshly hungers and makes it possible for us to hunger for what God hungers. These three practices are how we enter Jesus’ prayer, fasting for forty days in the desert, and His total self-giving.
As we embark on our Lenten journey, a season of grace and spiritual rebirth, let us embrace this time of prayer, penance, and reconciliation with God.
May this Lenten season be a time of deep reconciliation with God, with ourselves, and with our neighbours. May this season be a period of spiritual renewal, a time to draw closer to the Lord, and a journey towards the Easter Triduum, the very heart of our liturgical year.
Praying for a grace filled Lenten season for all Crannoggy Islanders.
May God be close to all who are starting Lent today.
ReplyDelete(I was going to write 'their Lenten journey', but I edited it for Clive).
Delays on the line are due to problems with virtue signalling.
DeleteChefofsinners
DeleteWhy did that comment appear there? Mutters unlentlike words....
Anyway, happy lent, Jack. I don't suppose it's all about being happy, so perhaps miserable lent glad to see you're still with us on this mortal coil.
Greetings, Chef. It's good to hear from you!
DeleteNew names for the Overground lines. Did Sadiq Khan deliberately time the announcement so as to inflict embarrassment on Londoners as a Lenten penance? Who would want to admit, "I live on the Lioness Line" or "the Suffragette Line"?
ReplyDeleteI can certainly see the point of giving the six lines their own names. On the whole I'd say it was a good idea, but -- in the words of the Grail Knight in the Indiana Jones film -- Mr. Khan has chosen poorly, when he could have chosen wisely.
https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/london-overground/the-new-look-london-overground?intcmp=75267
With the exception of the "Weaver Line" all very PC and woke too:
Deletehttps://www.cityam.com/mildmay-weaver-and-liberty-what-do-the-london-overgrounds-new-names-actually-mean/
The Gospel Oak to Barking line is sometimes shortened to "the GOB line". Even that would be a better name than "the Suffragette Line".
Delete£6m in virtue signalling.
DeleteIt's embarrassing. The 'lioness line', in particular, is so linked to ephemeral pop culture that nobody will know what it means in a few years' time. Why don't the curling team get their own line? Or the hockey squad?
DeleteAmen!
ReplyDelete(Our Lent is still a way off here... I hadn't realised that it was already that time of year in the Western-type churches).
Here is an interesting article about the CofE's wholesale baptism of people wishing to further their asylum claims: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/i-refuse-to-be-complicit-in-baptism-dishonesty/ar-BB1i2kpy
ReplyDeleteAlthough there are undoubtedly a lot of blind eyes being turned, and even knowing dishonesty, there is a flaw in the canonical requirement for a CofE minister to baptise anyone in their parish who requests it, and the lack of a prescribed period of preparation. I imagine that this isn't happening on such a scale in the Catholic Church because of the delay of completing an RCIA course, or the Orthodox Church which usually requires a long period of catechesis before baptism.
This is shameful negligence on the part of the Church of England.
DeleteChefofsinners
DeleteNeither is it happening in nonconformist churches, where we have more sense.
Hello, Chef, is that really you? How nice to hear from you again. It''s been a long time.
DeleteAs for those Anglican clergy who have been overindulging in fun and games at the baptismal font, they're certainly demonstrating a lack of something, but I don't think I'd call it "sense". More like honesty, I think, and contempt for the sacraments. "We know they're only pretending to believe in Jesus Christ, but that's okay, because we're only pretending we've fallen for their lies. So it evens out, doesn't it? We're doing it to spite the reactionary fascist racists of the wicked Tory Party, and now of the no less wicked Labour Party too, ever since they committed high treason against the Great Leader Comrade Corbyn."
Fair comment, Ray. As you say, they don't seem to believe a word of it any more. Not that many of them ever did. The thing they call baptism more closely resembles Pilate washing his hands just before sentencing the Lord to death.
DeleteSeason's greetings, ch(i)e, I hope they find you suitably ashen.
DeleteYes, Ray, I think you're right. There are some clergy who've undoubtedly been genuinely taken in and baptised bad faith actors in good faith. This is understandable if you're in a parish where you've had a couple of 'converts'.
Then there are other clergy who I suspect know that they're being played, but go along with it hoping for the best. It's not that different from those families who turn up for baptism in parishes with a CofE school attached and then disappear as soon as little Alfie is enrolled. They know they're playing a game, the vicar knows that they're playing a game, but everyone's too polite to say anything and the vicar hopes something might come of it in the future.
Then you've got the clergy who know full well what's going on and actively encourage it, because the CofE has never been anything more for them than a vehicle for activism. Their gospel is not salvation, but racial or climate justice or whatever is the cause this week. They're the same bunch who are happy to allow the Qu'ran to be read in cathedrals, and raves to be held in them, because their religion is left wing ideology. It would not surprise me in the slightest, given their reaction to Brexit etc., if many of the bishops were complicit in what was going on.
Pleased that you have appeared again. We need some more ratbaggery on this blog....Speaking of which....where is Anton? If you are reading this Anton....please do not be afraid to return. I remember you have a cat. All I remember of Chef is that he lives in a castle with a moat,likes Cat Stevens, and does strange dancing to Christian songs in Christian fellowship youth groups:)....(Cressida)
ReplyDeleteUmm --- one notes your joke on Psephizo at HJ's and Anton' expense!
DeleteI'm happy to share with all Crannogyites a brief message that just this moment turned up in my inbox:
ReplyDelete"Anton assures us that his cat is well, and he (Anton) can be found
ruffling feathers at Psephizo."
Yes he and I often "exchange words" there! No sign of Carl of late. Must have gone into retirement.
DeleteRuffling female feathers with some of his comments about a woman's place, I see. I don't think I'll be signing up over there...
DeleteOnly pop in there every now and then to comment. There's an interesting group of posters.
DeletePsephizo is one of those blogs that I sometimes forget to look at for months at a time. Thinglicans in another one. Are you the only Catholic posting there, Jack?
DeleteNot sure, but there seem to a few more in tune with Catholicism and Orthodoxy than Anglicanism. There are the liberal-progressives too. It's not a homogenous group
Delete