Lord, you are merciful to all, forsaking not what you created. Look not upon our sin, but draw us to full repentance. – Entrance Antiphon for Ash Wednesday

Today people stream to places of worship seeking that smudge of ashes on their foreheads. Ash Wednesday is not a solemnity, but the crowds are larger than any other holy day. Mothers carrying infants shuffle forward, in step with the rich and the poor, people of all ages, genders, and ethnicities.

View From the Bench

My ministry means sitting at the piano providing the sparse, somber incidental music for this great pilgrimage. I see a lot of humanity from this humble perch. There were several amusing moments at the morning liturgy, as there will be more throughout the day. I will see people rush in late, stride right past the eucharistic minister, self-ash, then rush back out. Whoosh!

Who am I to judge?

I have no room to judge people who do this. Having rushed through too many meaningful moments to count, I have chosen to look beyond the treasure before me, too too focused on something that seemed more important to me at the time. I have been inattentive and insincere to family, friends and strangers at the very times that I should have been listening. Carelessly oblivious to beauty when it was all around me, I have looked away and missed it.

Whining is a Sometimes Thing

I have been a sarcastic jerk, and I have whined about some passing inconvenience, failing to stop, let it go, and move on. I am sorry for all the times I have fallen short, or failed to be awed by God’s kindness, patience, and relentless love. For the times I will do it again, I pray for the grace to think first, hold back, and choose to love instead. Thanks be to God that I am loved through my failures. So are you.

Mark but our sins, O Lord, and who might stand? Yet you forgive, and thus we revere you. With our God there is mercy and plentiful redemption. – Psalm 130