Seeds Planted In Holy Dirt

On Ash Wednesday we received Holy Dirt. During Lent we are to plant the seeds of kindness, compassion, and generosity in the holy dirt, so that when Easter comes, these seeds nourished by the living waters of Easter might bloom anew in glory!

Spiritual writers describe our Lenten journey as a trek through the spiritual desert. On this journey, we travel light.

So we "let go" of extras so we can travel light.

We even abstain a little and fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

And w are extra generous to the poor.

And we scripturaly walk with the Hebrew people on their way to the Promised Land.

As in today's Gospel, as Jesus did, we may even encounter Satan along the way.

He may hide in the bushes, or even sneak up behind us and hide in our shadows.

There, he is uacknowledged and hidden.

As one writer tells us, we must find him there while at the same time being gentle with our shadow. We do not violently rut him out, but rather tenderly tend our woundedness.

Even Jesus dialogued with him!

An excellent resource for this is:

"Make Friends With Your Shadow

How To Accept and Use...

The Negative Side Of Your Pesonality" by Wm.A. Miller

And so we pray:

O God,

Plant in the holy dirt of Lent,

seeds of compassion, kindness, and generosity.

And deliver us from evil,

especially that that lurks

in oue shadows.

Amen