The Cathedral Close

A reminder that Ash Wednesday Mass with Imposition of Ashes is at 12:00 noon and 6:30 p.m.

ASH WEDNESDAY

“Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children…”-Joel 2:15

WHY should I keep Lent? Lent is a time of self, denial and self-examination, and while I am young, and strong, and active I may surely put this aside until I have need to be more serious. But still is it not the case that the truest man or woman and the noblest boy or girl are they who, as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, lov¬ingly obey His precepts, imitate His example, and follow in His footsteps?

I cannot help feeling that it is infinitely better to be pure than to be impure, to be true than to be false, to be humble than to be proud, to be brave than to be a coward. I also know that it is impossible to be pure, and true, and humble, and brave without a struggle. It is through toil and trouble that we enter into almost everything that is worth entering into in this life; and it is only through much tribula¬tion that we can enter into the kingdom of God, which is the kingdom of truth and purity and love.

The Lord Jesus Christ Himself spent forty days in the wilderness, and when He was tempted, overcame every temptation. The two great saints who appeared with Him in His glory on the Mount of the Transfiguration, also spent a like period of retirement, Moses twice and Elijah once. Moses was preparing himself for his great work of giving God’s law to His people; and Elijah for God’s revelation of Himself to him by means of the “still, small, voice.”

And I, too, may have much to learn this Lent both concerning God and concerning myself; and perchance some faults to overcome, whether I be well aware of them or only dimly conscious of them, or indeed not yet aware of them at all. Or I may have some virtues to gain, of which, perhaps, I am now sadly in need.

Prayer

Therefore, O God, teach me by Thy Holy Spirit to know Thee, and to know myself; and help me, I pray Thee, to keep this Lent devoutly and profitably, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.