A Moveable Feast

Ash Wednesday. A Moveable Feast.

After work I went to the St. Thomas à Becket church (in Reston, about five minutes from where I live) to hear mass and receive ashes.

Lent means so much more to me here than when I was living in Manila. Partly because for years I was agnostic (I used to go to the beach instead). Largely now, because it reminds of home and all the traditions I knew as a child. It’s so deeply intertwined with my history and my Filipino identity.

Far from home, I now appreciate the meaning, symbol and ritual of Lent more deeply than I had before.

—–Poem-A-Post—–

From “Ash Wednesday”

T.S. Eliot

This is the time of tension between dying and birth
The place of solitude where three dreams cross
Between blue rocks
But when the voices shaken from the yew-tree drift away
Let the other yew be shaken and reply.

Blessèd sister, holy mother, spirit of the fountain, spirit of the 
garden,
Suffer us not to mock ourselves with falsehood
Teach us to care and not to care
Teach us to sit still
Even among these rocks,
Our peace in His will
And even among these rocks
Sister, mother
And spirit of the river, spirit of the sea,
Suffer me not to be separated

And let my cry come unto Thee.