Brother Leo Maneri, Franciscan Brother of the Eucharist, and Sister Patricia Glass, Franciscan Sister of the Eucharist, on Ash Wednesday 2010! They are still smiling and looking forward to a holy Lent in 2022!
Pope Francis reminds us all of the meaning of receiving ashes on Ash Wednesday in his homily:
The ashes bespeak the emptiness hiding behind the frenetic quest for worldly rewards. They remind us that worldliness is like the dust that is carried away by a slight gust of wind. Sisters and brothers, we are not in this world to chase the wind; our hearts thirst for eternity. Lent is the time granted us by the Lord to be renewed, to nurture our interior life and to journey towards Easter, towards the things that do not pass away, towards the reward we are to receive from the Father. Lent is also a journey of healing. Not to be changed overnight, but to live each day with a renewed spirit, a different “style”. Prayer, charity and fasting are aids to this. Purified by the Lenten ashes, purified of the hypocrisy of appearances, they become even more powerful and restore us to a living relationship with God, our brothers and sisters, and ourselves.
– Homily of His Holiness Pope Francis, Ash Wednesday, March 2, 2022, Basilica of Santa Sabina, read by Cardinal Parolin
Also for our reflection is the prayer intention of Mother Shaun Vergauwen, FSE, Co-foundress, for Lent: “May our interior journey of Lent bring a deeper relationship to Christ and an increase of love and peace in our world.”