Ash Wednesday

"Grant us, O Lord, to begin with holy fasts the campaign of our Christian warfare: that, as we do battle with the spirits of evil, we may be protected by the help of self-denial. Through Christ our Lord. Amen."

--prayer from the Mass of Ash Wednesday

For our sakes

"There is nothing so salutary for us as to meditate every day on what Jesus, God and man, has endured for our sakes."

--Saint Augustine

Song

To have a voice
with which to sing
is not a thing
to take for granted.
How silent is the day
without a song
to cheer me!
If no one hears me,
still, my song is there;
and when I sing
while I'm walking
on my favorite paths,
the birds sing along.

See...

"See, dearest daughter, in what an excellent state is the soul who receives, as she should, this Bread of Life, this Food of Angels. By receiving this Sacrament she dwells in Me and I in her, as the fish in the sea, and the sea in the fish--thus do I dwell in the soul, and the soul in Me--the Sea Pacific."

--from The Dialogue of Saint Catherine of Siena

There is a light...

"And then, as people at a masquerade
take off the masks which have until that time
been hiding their true selves--so, then and there...
I saw heaven...in reality...

God...grant me now the power to find the words for what I saw!
There is a light...whose glory makes the Creator
visible to the created mind,
whose only peace is in beholding Him."

--Dante in Paradiso

Forever

"I can see how into your mind already
There shines Eternal Light which...
Once it is seen, forever kindles love."

--Beatrice in Paradiso

Whatever He wills...

"...Let us raise our hearts to God. Whatever He wills, without exception, should be received with the firm persuasion that every cross He wills to send shall prove an endless source of blessing, a treasure whose value one may not appreciate at the moment."

--from The Spiritual Combat by Dom Lorenzo Scupoli