Ash Wednesday

Great athletes practice so much they create muscle memory. When they are mentally exhausted, their muscles still remember how to catch, shoot, putt, etc. As we get older our bodies remember the joy that the Lenten season brings. That’s right, it is not just our heart and mind that welcome Lent. Our bodies too remember the cleansing qualities of fasting and changes in our eating and drinking patterns. I must be getting really old, but somehow when I woke this morning it was not just my heart and mind that were excited, but my body too told me it was time. Now when a few weeks into Lent an oatmeal raisin cookie crosses my path, I still will need my heart and mind to keep me on the straight and narrow path, but for today my whole self welcomes the pleasure that fasting, prayer, meditation, and service bring to my heart, soul, mind and body.

A doctor once told me to listen to my body, and Christ told us to remain alert. Today it all begins, as the commercial goes, “Try it, you will like it.”