lenten icon – a poem
these days the soul laid open salted stretched nailed?to winter wood the wonder of it gutted wolf-mask thin disfigured breath wolf spirit?stalking its hooded kind...
20
Mar
15
Mar
Lent is a Time to Prepare for Renewal
WHAT ARE WE PREPARING, IN LENT, TO RENEW? We're preparing to renew our Christian covenant, that is, to renew our baptism into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ....
14
Mar
Vespers – a poem
for Vespers: all these things they say foretold the air gathers up this Lenten season the tiny voices of children : a choir of Sundays unburdened by bells scattered across a cloistered sky:...
09
Mar
Rhythm, Repetition and the Liturgical Cycle
It's Lent again! How is this year's celebration of Lent going to differ from last year's celebration? Ponder the ashes on Ash Wednesday. They are the burnt remains of the palms leftover from last year's Passion (Palm) Sunday. The cycle has come full circle. How am I different at the start of this Lent than I was at the end of Lent a year ago?...
03
Mar
wintersong – a poem
the sky the colour of fish skin before the winter storm your gaze smudges rushes with emotion broken lines of birds damp down gather and grow formal...
25
Feb
Livestrong the Lenten Way
Remember that thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return. (Genesis 3:19) These words are said by the priest when we receive the ashes on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday. Remember it we shall, as that grey spot is rather distinctive in a culture that heaps praises upon cleanly-kept foreheads....
19
Feb
The Monk and His Bowl
As we begin Lent, we ask ourselves the question: what shall I give up for Lent? Or perhaps the flip side of the coin: what special thing shall I do during Lent? Lent is a time to 'pick up the slack' when it comes to our habits: we either want to work on purging those that get in the way of our relationship with God as well as our fellow brothers and sisters, or on developing those that help these relationships....
12
Feb
As We Begin Lent
There is a long tradition going back to the early Church of a time of fasting, penance, and asceticism before the liturgical memorials of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of the Christ. Today one hears of people giving up things: chocolate, alcohol, foods of certain sorts, or taking up things: a daily rosary, or the reading of a devotional book, or the practice of a pious exercise....
12
Feb
A Saskatchewan Winter – 2013
Saskatchewan can be a challenging place to live in winter. Although I grew up here, it was not until I returned after a thirty year absence that I realized it. This particular year winter has been-- winter!...
12
Feb
Skating, Skiing and Salted Cod
After two months of winter, the landscape seems rather forlorn, lonely, dreary, on these cloudy days of which we seem to get more than our fair share in Ottawa. As I look out my window towards the houses of Old Ottawa South, it is hard to imagine that Ash Wednesday and Lent are upon us, and that Easter is only about two months off, with its promise of new life and growth in spirit and nature....