Valentine’s Day – Saint Valentine known for healing. Feb.14, Day of love & romance & devotion.
Ash Wednesday – 1st day of Lent. “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
If we could only agree on living the time between birth and death in love and kindness toward
our neighbors, and tolerance and understanding with our neighbors, we could eliminate
fear and hate. Peace would actually be possible.
Fences – All of us have fences in one form or other. Our houses, places of business, phones,
computers, cars, pets, airplanes, police and military. We don’t necessarily call all of
these functions fences, but they are all used in the same way. They protect us from
those who would harm us or our property. The borders of our country are supposed
to act in the same way.
Security – When our fences are violated we depend on police, justice system and military to
protect us from invaders. Our government has enacted laws to support this. The basic
tenets of our Constitution and Bill of Rights also are supposed to protect us.
Weapons – If, or when, the above measures are broken or break down, we are left with only
ourselves to provide the necessary protection for our property and families. Intruders
may or may not be armed, but in an emergency there is very little time to decide the
extent of the immediate risk. So some kind of effective weapon becomes necessary.
Like it or not, a firearm of some kind is the most helpful as protection in this situation.
Disaster – In any kind of disaster, survival and protection from harm or disease are our most
immediate problems to solve. Food, water, shelter, medications, and familial
protection are our highest priorities. It is not always realistic to expect help from police
or military. Once again, we are on our own. Friends and neighbors are a possibility, but
they might be faced with the same exact problems, depending on the extent of the
disaster.
Prayer – In seemingly hopeless situations, when all else fails, we do have one last option. We
can pray to our Creator for help, a help that no one else can give. We can give ourselves
to the One who has given us life, and the One whom we will return to at the end of that
life. Everyone who has inhabited this earth has faced this situation in some form or
other. We all have an expiration date. Most of us are unaware of it this finality. Prayer can
make our transition much easier. Prayer in this situation is always from the heart.
Ashes – It occurs to me that Ash Wednesday might just be a reminder that we need to do
penance while we are still here on earth. Maybe this is what our time here on earth is all
about. Maybe this is really Purgatory, a time of cleansing our sins and evilness to be
ready for an eternity of unimaginable love. After all, we are isolated in a universe that
contains us to one solar system due to the light years of distance that separate us from
any other possible habitation. And, even if this is the case, there are far too many
people who still don’t get the message. After all, good and evil are choices for us.
Lent – Is a time for meditation and introspection, taking stock of our lives, the good parts
and the not so good parts. Lent is the perfect time to sit in the ashes for a while and
sort of “reboot” our daily existence back to when everything was more simple and
understandable. Lent then leads us to Holy Week which then re-awakens us to the
foundation of Christianity which is the death and resurrection of the One who has
saved us so that we are able to make intelligent choices in our lives. And this Lenten
journey leads us inevitably to the event that gives us hope:
Easter – The Resurrection of Christ, His appearance to His followers, and His return to His Father
in heaven are what gives our lives the deep meaning we need to survive the evils that
surround us. The purpose of our churches is to remind us of this as often as possible.
Our task is to absorb the words and thoughts of the Bible so that we can teach our
young and nurture their faith so that their time in Purgatory is not wasted, but becomes
their own journey of faith into eternal love. Finally, a time of lasting peace.