“Remember, O, man, that thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return.”

With these words the priest made the Sign of the Cross on my forehead with the ashes of last Palm Sunday’s palm fronds. A few minutes later I received Holy Communion with the Sign of Christ’s Redemptive Act marking me as His. A few minutes after that I was once again out in the world, still bearing His Mark on my forehead, still bearing His Presence within.

So began the Lenten season marking my fifteenth year as a child of Holy Mother Church. May I become ever more faithful, ever more devout, ever more aware of what it truly means to be His disciple. May I truly be filled with the spirit of Christ. And I pray all of these things for you, too. For the Greater Glory of God. In the name of Christ, His Son. In the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Lenten Workshop at CatholicCulture.org.
Meditations on the Stations of the Cross, Belmont Abbey