Foreheads have been blackened with a smudgy mix of burnt palm leaves and oil. That old call to remember our fragile state of being and how it will one day dissolve into component parts and be no more recognisable as ourselves has been issued and we find ourselves in the time of purple and violet. Lent is here and we are required by our love for God to reflect on our lives.
Much of what makes us who we are is how we approach the things of life. How we react in certain situations, how we cope in the long term, how we view the outside world reveals much of who w are, warts and all. We are, however, not completely transparent to the world nor even really to ourselves. Our search for what consciousness is is clouded by the long shadow of our own consciousness obscuring the facts of our existence and our understanding of that existence.
However, we can begin to reflect upon our fragile being by kneeling before God and considering our attitudes towards our lives. Our attitudes to Things, to Ourselves, to Others, and to God need to be considered, and considered very deeply as it is within these that we find the Eight Deadly Sins. In our attitude to Things, we find the sins of Avarice and Envy; in our attitudes to Ourselves, we find the sins of Pride and Gluttony; in our attitudes to Others, we find the sins of Lust and Anger; and in our attitude to God we find Sloth and the monastic sin of acedia.
I will be preaching in Rochester on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th Sundays of Lent and intend, with the help of God, to speak on these four attitudes. On the fourth Sunday, I will be leading Mattins with Deacon Mass in Dartford, but perhaps I will try to reflect on our attitudes to our parents for Mothering Sunday.
It's worth remembering that we really are very, very fallen, corporately and individually. But we really, really are loved by God. A good reflection on our attitudes with Him holding our hand will bring us only closer to Him
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