tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7490542019367126463.post3637518913917031036..comments2024-02-21T03:39:30.791-08:00Comments on ecumenicus: Ash Wednesday - Humility and Trustecumenicushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12652660400597406873noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7490542019367126463.post-77418927572921213212013-02-13T12:05:25.938-08:002013-02-13T12:05:25.938-08:00Thank you so much for your wonderful comments DMar...Thank you so much for your wonderful comments DMarie! We remember that we are One in eternal loving relationship which, while it pours itself out through/for the temporal world, is never compromised, but continues to draw us into itself and, again, pour itself out, in the eternal life and death/ebb and flow/tzim tzum of reality.ecumenicushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12652660400597406873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7490542019367126463.post-58999528813174576312013-02-13T11:21:17.493-08:002013-02-13T11:21:17.493-08:00Thank you for your lovely thoughts. Reading this,...Thank you for your lovely thoughts. Reading this, I was struck with how Lent is an annual reflection on impermanence, presence, and the ongoing connection temporal life and eternal life share. <br /><br />The ceremony that initiates Lent is closely tied with separation, loss, and submission through impermanence. The ashes that are used to mark the participants came from a past celebration, one that marked an "earthly" and "kingly" procession into a sacred site (Jerusalem). That procession led to devastating humiliation, surrender, and loss in the physical history of Jesus, teacher from Nazareth. <br /><br />As ashes mark our bodies, we are reminded that we are dust, and unto dust we shall return. What more humbling reminder can we wear that life includes death? We start the season wearing ash that is infertile, dry, and without life. They mark the memory of the original Passover--- marking houses that saved the Hebrews, and the new passover where we who follow humbly through death and Resurrection will be marked for Union with the Eternal Christ.<br /><br />The Hebrews walked into the wilderness with little more than the assurance that they had been spared one horror to encounter the dearth of the desert. Forty years later, they were a nation, founded on a spiritual covenant. Because of the transcendent relationship we share in the presence of Christ, Lent simply reminds ourselves of the temporary nature of the fast; the suspense, and the impermanence of this journey compared to the Eternal course of Being. Very little is asked of us, except that we be mindful of our opportunity to spend this life as an expression of ALL lives that were and will be exalted through relationship with God.DMarie Feketehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00086925762959721676noreply@blogger.com