It has been said that forgiveness is among the more powerful forces in life.
Yet even its glory cannot be realized without a personal acknowledging of that which even causes it to be necessary. Ash Wednesday is a reminder of this, of who we are or of who we have become because of our sin.
It marks the beginning of another opportunity for me to recalibrate myself to what is true about me. To pray out of it again this prayer from last year and into hope.
The purpose of Lent is not to force on us a few formal obligations, but to soften our heart so that it may open itself to the realities of the Spirit, to experience the hidden thirst and hunger for communion with God. The sadness of my exile, the mess I have made of my life and the brightness of God’s presence and forgiveness, the joy of the recovered desire for God, the peace of the recovered home. Such is the climate of Lenten worship.
-- Alexander Schmemann
