Ash Wednesday

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Well, another ash wednesday comes to St. Blog's. While many people are retiring from blogging during the forty days, I have decided to blog every day, because I write so rarely on here, that it seems only appropriate to do so. I often come up with a scripture and a penitential psalm to reflect on during this period in time. For this Lent, I have chosen Psalm 32, and Matt 5:13 for my reflective verses because I really wanted to deepen my appreciation for the sacrament of confession, and also to reflect on the necessity of not becoming worldly among my peers who see me as a representative of the Catholic Faith.

I first decided on Matt 5:13 after reading a page on my book on St. Thomas Aquinas written by G.K. Chesterton. The excerpt from that book follows here.:

The Saint is a medicine because he is an antidote. Indeed that is why the saint is often a martyr; he is mistaken for a poison because he is an antidote. He will generally be found restoring the world to sanity by exaggerating whatever the world neglects, which is by no means always the same element in every age. Yet each generation seeks its saint by instinct; and he is not what the people want, but rather what the people need. This is surely the very much mistaken meaning of those words to the first saints, "Ye are the salt of the earth," which caused the Ex-Kaiser to remark with all solemnity that his beefy Germans were the salt of the earth; meaning thereby merely that they were the earth's beefiest and therefore best. But salt seasons and preserves beef, not because it is like beef; but because it is very unlike it. Christ did not tell his apostles that they were only the excellent people, or the only excellent people, but that they were the exceptional people; the permanently incongruous and incompatible people; and the text about the salt of the earth is really as sharp and shrewd and tart as the taste of salt. It is because they were the exceptional people, that they must not lose their exceptional quality. "If salt lose its savour, wherewith shall it be salted?" is a much more pointed question than any mere lament over the price of the best beef. If the world grows too worldly, it can be rebuked by the Church; but if the Church grows too worldly, it cannot be adequately rebuked for worldliness by the world.(G.K. Chesterton; St. Thomas Aquinas: The Dumb Ox)

Here is Psalm 32 from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible:

1: Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
2: Blessed is the man to whom the LORD imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
3: When I declared not my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long.
4: For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. [Selah]
5: I acknowledged my sin to thee, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD"; then thou didst forgive the guilt of my sin. [Selah]
6: Therefore let every one who is godly offer prayer to thee; at a time of distress, in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him.
7: Thou art a hiding place for me, thou preservest me from trouble; thou dost encompass me with deliverance. [Selah]
8: I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
9: Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not keep with you.
10: Many are the pangs of the wicked; but steadfast love surrounds him who trusts in the LORD.
11: Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

More reflection on these verses will follow in the coming days of Lent.

I have decided I can't give up meat for Lent because my parents still control what's on the menu to a large extent. That being said, I still plan to increase my daily prayers, and until I find something appropriate to give up, I will find something charitable to do. I can't give up sodas or chocolate or candies because those are pretty much off of my diet anyway. So, I'll just have to keep thinking. Any ideas would be appreciated.

God bless.

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This page contains a single entry by Robert Diaz, MI published on February 9, 2005 11:16 PM.

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