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Ash Wednesday
Simonthepilgrim
Veteran
Today, Christians start the forty day season of Lent. It is an opportunity for us to deepen our practice and our focus on walking the Path.
It used to be - and still is, in popular imagination - a time of self-denial, which is not a bad thing in a society which celebrates over-consumption. The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Church of England are suggesting, in addition, that we engage in acts of kindness. They even have a daily SMS text meaasge with a suggestion such as today's "Spend a little time in silence" or "Hug a stranger (who really needs it)". They are calling it "Love Life Live Lent":
Love Life Live Lent
It used to be - and still is, in popular imagination - a time of self-denial, which is not a bad thing in a society which celebrates over-consumption. The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Church of England are suggesting, in addition, that we engage in acts of kindness. They even have a daily SMS text meaasge with a suggestion such as today's "Spend a little time in silence" or "Hug a stranger (who really needs it)". They are calling it "Love Life Live Lent":
Love Life Live Lent
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Comments
As days don't really exist either do they.. lol.. hours,minutes,seconds.. if you dwell in these you waste a lot of time.
Its like children, they actually believe that pancake day,lent,christmas or w/e actually is Christmas or w/e.. like its a living entity. Its just an amount of time with a label celotaped over by general society.
The point that the only celebrations i know over the year is my own birthday and my dads/april fools b'day and xmas... shows it really..
i have absolutely no clue when half of these days are.. i come into work oblivious to these things and ppl ask me if im having pancakes,or whether ive bought mom a present for mothers day.. all i can ever say is "whens that?.. oh i don't really care"
I find that sad, Celebrin.
To me, the turning of the seasons and the regular return of the festivals are a constant source of reflection. Noticing how my own 'system' responds to the wider world is always enlightening on how I distract myself. But I think that it is something that we are losing in the urbanised West.
The rhythms by which we live have got longer and longer so that we do not notice them any more. I remember visiting farms in Normandy, as a boy, where the Angelus was still rung, stopping work at noon and six p.m. for a few moments of reflection. We did this in the noviciate, too. The days moved from bell to bell. The regular pattern of the calendar was also a constant as was the precession of the equinoxes. In towns and cities, now, the periodicity has changed, been almost lost.
I do, however, notice that people get worried when the gross signs of seasonal regularity are disturbed. I think that we remain, all unconsciously at times, linked to this movement and its inherent rhythm: it is the music of our lives.