ASH WEDNESDAY
Today I put my past
In a small wooden chest,
Closed it and offered it to you.
From it now I turn, I fast.
On you now I gaze, I pray.
In your now I trust, I dwell.
Fr. Vince Hovely, S.J.
THE ONLY THING WE TAKE INTO ETERNITY
The only thing we take into eternity with us is all that we have become.
Dallas Willard
Preparing For Heaven
LIVE WELL, LIVE WISELY, LIVE HUMBLY
Do you want to be counted wise, to build a reputation for wisdom?
Here’s what you do:
Live well,
live wisely,
live humbly.
It’s the way you live, not the way you talk that counts.
James 3
The Message
BE COMPASSIONATE AND LOYAL IN LOVE
He’s already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women.
It’s quite simple:
Do what hit fair and just to your neighbor,
Be compassionate and loyal in your love,
And don’t take yourself too seriously - take God seriously.
Micah 6
The Message
I'M NOT GVING UP
But me, I’m not giving up. I’m sticking around to see what God will do.
I’m waiting for God to make things right. I’m counting on God to listen to me.
Micah 7
The Message
HOPE ALWAYS
Wait, Israel, for God.
Wait with hope.
Hope now;
Hope always!
Psalm 131
The Message
VENITE
Come, let us raise a joyful song,
a shout of triumph to the rock of our salvation.
Let us come into Your presence with thanksgiving,
singing songs of triumph.
For You are a great God, a great king over all gods.
The depths of the earth are in Your hands; mountains belong to You.
The sea is Yours, for You made it;
and the dry land Your hands fashioned.
Let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the One who made us.
For You are our God, and we are the flock that You shepherd.
We will know Your power and presence this day,
if we will but listen for Your voice.
VENITE
Psalm 95
BENEDICITUS
Blessed be God, who has turned to His people and saved us and set us free.
You have raised up for us a strong deliverer, and so You promised:
Age after age You proclaimed by the lips of Your holy prophets,
that You would deliver us, calling to mind Your solemn covenant.
This was the promise that You made: To rescue us and free us from fear,
so that we might worship You with a holy worship,
in Your holy presence our whole life long.
In Your tender compassion, the morning sun has risen upon us –
to shine on us in our darkness, to guide our feet into the paths of peace.
Benedictus
Zechariah’s Prayer from Luke 1
KNOW MYSELF
Grant Lord,
that I my know myself,
that I may know thee.
St. Augustine
WHO ARE YOU? WHO AM I?
Who are you?
Who am I?
St. Francis of Assisi
St. Francis of Assisi would often go away to pray.
When he would return people would ask him, “Francis, what did you pray?”
This was his reply.
II
When my father was an old man,
past eighty years, we sat together
on the porch in silence
in the dark. Finally he said,
“Well, I have had a wonderful life, “
adding after a long pause,
“and I have had nothing
to do with it!” We were silent
for a while again. And then I asked,
“Well, do you believe in the
informed decision?” He thought
some more, and at last said
out of the darkness: “Naw!”
He was right, for when we choose
the way by which our only life
is lived, we choose and do not know
what we have chosen, for this
is the heart’s choice, not the mind’s;
to be true to the heart’s one choice
is the long labor of the mind.
He chose, imperfectly as we must,
the rule of love, and learned
through years of light what darkly
he had chosen: His life, his place,
our place, our lives. And now comes
one he chose, but will not see:
Emily Rose, born May 2, 1993
Wendell Berry
This Day