The Deacon's Bench
“Ash Wednesday is for people who know that it means for their soul to be logged with these icy waters: all of us are such peopleif only we can realize it.
There is confidence everywhere in Ash Wednesdayyet that does not mean unmixed and untroubled security. The confidence of the Christian is always a confidence in spite of darkness and riskin the presence of perilwith every evidence of possible disaster…
Once againLent is not just a time for squaring conscious accounts: but for realizing what we had perhaps not seen before. The light of Lent is given us to help us with this realization.
Neverthelessthe liturgy of Ash Wednesday is not focussed on the sinfulness of the penitent but on the mercy of God. The question of sinfulness is raised precisely because this is a day of mercyand the just do not need a savior.”
— Thomas Mertonquoted here.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In