{"id":3614,"date":"2025-03-05T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/?p=3614"},"modified":"2025-03-04T20:35:33","modified_gmt":"2025-03-04T20:35:33","slug":"ash-wednesday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/2025\/03\/05\/ash-wednesday\/uncategorized\/3614\/","title":{"rendered":"Ash Wednesday"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Photo by Grant Whitty on unsplash.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One of the most helpful books I\u2019ve read is \u201cAmazing Grace, a vocabulary of faith.\u201d By Kathleen Norris. She describes it as \u201can exploration and record of some of the words in the Christian lexicon that most trouble and attract me.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The book reminded me of an important Benedictine principle, that words matter. They shape us, form us, challenge us and help us grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So this Lent I\u2019ve decided to make myself a Lent lexicon. I\u2019m going to explore some of the words we commonly hear in Lent. I\u2019ve chosen words that attract and sometimes scare me. They also both shape and challenge my experience of Lent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ashes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Ashes mark the beginning of our Lent journey. With a small, but significant physical sign we give a powerful message about the significance of this time. The Ashes seem to me to be a signal of intent for the season of Lent. There are many ways that intention could be stated, it will vary from person to person and from year to year. But whatever variations it has I generally find that this verse expresses them all:

\u201cO that today you would listen to his voice, harden not your hearts.\u201d <\/em>

It\u2019s the first thing we sing on Ash Wednesday, and whatever Lent practices I choose this verse sums up their purpose and intent. Lent practices help us to move away from the clutter that disguises our hardheartedness. They invite us to allow our hearts to become vulnerable and open to receive the Word of God.

Ashes remind us of that intention and of our limitations. As we receive the ashes we hear one of these verses:

\u201cTurn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRemember that you are dust, and to dust you will return.\u201d
<\/em>
Our Lent journey starts with high hopes. These verses bring us back down to earth. We are created from the stuff of the earth, that is both a humbling and liberating thought. In a world that sets impossibly high standards it allows us the freedom to accept our limitations.

As we journey through Lent our good intentions will get battered and even fall by the wayside. The ashes are a reminder that this is simply part of being human. We can fall, and get up and try again.

How are you being called to open your heart to God\u2019s voice this Ash Wednesday?
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the most helpful books I\u2019ve read is \u201cAmazing Grace, a vocabulary of faith.\u201d By Kathleen Norris. She describes it as \u201can exploration and record of some of the words in the Christian lexicon that most trouble and attract me.\u201d The book reminded me of an important Benedictine principle, that words matter. They shape […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[337,222,494,356,461,239,271,336,537,246,1],"tags":[766,40,28,18,20,6,8,100,33,229,13,41,12,75,29,235,10],"class_list":["post-3614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ash-wednesday","category-benedictine-spirituality","category-christ","category-cross","category-divine-office","category-gospel","category-lectio-divina","category-lent","category-liturgy","category-scripture","category-uncategorized","tag-ashes","tag-ashwednesday","tag-benedictine","tag-challenge","tag-freedom","tag-gospel","tag-hope","tag-humility","tag-kingdom","tag-kingdomvalues","tag-lectiodivina","tag-lent","tag-listen","tag-listeningheart","tag-love","tag-openhearted","tag-trust"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3614"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3622,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3614\/revisions\/3622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}