Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Considering Lent

Lent is observed by Christians as a time of preparation during the forty weeks between Ash Wednesday* and Easter**.

"Lent is a time for personal and societal repentance, a time for radical conversion, renewal and transformation,” wrote my friend Art Laffin... recounts Fr. John Dear in the following article, Lent and the Charter for Compassion: click here.

The aforementioned Art Laffin keeps the dream of social justice alive with the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker in Washington, DC. Dorothy Day was a writer and bohemian that responded to the poverty and inequity of her era by starting, firstly, a revolutionary journal called The Catholic Worker, which then turned into action caring for the homeless. But the life-style Dorothy Day lived, honored, and proclaimed was one of pacifism, nonviolence, and social justice. She is a stunning historical character in the history of the US and I urge you to learn more about her life and writings.


*Ash Wendesday is a day of repentance (ie. looking back on the suffering one has caused and becoming aware of one's actions in the world) that is marked by smudging ash on the forehead. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust... we begin from the earth and we will return to the earth. This is the great equalizer.

**Easter is celebrated by Christians as the time Jesus died and resurrected. Resurrection means renewed life, as in Spring, the earth renewing itself, all manner of creatures (rabbits!) reproducing...life in its greatest fecund daze. Fresh air, sunshine, green grass, ah!

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