march 9, 2021 (tues in the third week of lent)

For today's readings click HERE.

by Mary Pendergrass

Today is special to me since it is my granddaughter’s birthday, and two days before her mother’s (my oldest daughter) birthday.  When my daughter was an older preteen and teen she struggled with the fact that her birthday fell in Lent and she generally gave up sweets.  We finally decided we would call her birthday a feast day so we could celebrate with a cake.  Now I think she has changed her outlook on how she treats Lent so it is no longer a time of denial but a time of contemplation and a time to make positive changes in one’s life.  And this is how I have come to view the Lenten season also.  For my granddaughter today, and for us all in this time of Lent, and the COVID pandemic which has so changed our lives in this past year, I would like to offer a poem, or blessing, from John O’Donohue’s To Bless the Space Between Us.

For Solitude
May you recognize in your life the presence, power, and light of your soul.

May you realize that you are never alone, that your soul in its brightness and belonging
connects you intimately with the rhythm of the universe.

May you have respect for your individuality and difference.

May you realize that the shape of your soul is unique, that you have a special destiny
here, that behind the facade of your life there is something beautiful and eternal
happening.

May you learn to see your self with the same delight, pride, and expectation with which
God sees you in every moment.