Ash Wednesday

Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

And with those words, our Lent has begun.

Holy Mother Church calls us to make these next forty days until Easter a time of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Lent is a pilgrimage, in a sense, through time if not space, through death to resurrection. A pilgrimage of penitence.

Let us walk together in the Lord.

This is a very different day at our parish than Ash Wednesday even a year ago.

Our parish church is closed due to damage, and Mass today was celebrated in the school auditorium. In the midst of these trials, the Archdiocese of Seattle has given us a one-month ultimatum to raise the money needed for our operating expenses.

As you can imagine, since our liturgical practices were simplified and (in some cases) abolished, and then our parish church was taken from us, our little parish family has scattered, seeking stronger spiritual sustenance. Bringing them home to help may be more than we can do.

Still, we will try.

It will be a long, cold Lent.