A look within myself, Remembering my fragility - from dust we are created and to dust we shall return....
"The ashes remind us of who we are, which does us good. It puts us in our place, smoothes out the rough edges of our narcissism, bring us back to reality and makes us more humble and open to one another. None of us is God, we are all on a journey" #lent ::::::::::::Ashes “revive in us the memory of what we are”, but also “the hope of what we will be”.~Pope Francis ~
(All quoted texts were taken from Pope Francis' 2025 Ash Wednesday Homily published by Vatican News and full text can be accessed here: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2025-03/pope-ash-wednesday-ashes-bring-us-back-to-reality.html)
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HUMAN FRAGILITY
I remember old sports days in Highschool. There was this common song:......tose tiri huruva, panyika pano apana anogara zvachose .....(All of us are dust, on this earth none will stay forever......)
“..... Indeed, the ashes help to remind us that our lives are fragile and insignificant: we are dust, from dust we were created, and to dust we shall return.”
Fragility takes many forms: weariness, weaknesses, fears, failures, failed dreams, illness, poverty, suffering, and, of course, mortality".
Oh yes, no creature is fragility proof. Fragility knows no age, gender, race, religion - none is immune. We all have some phases, those moments we found ourselves under a dark cloud, and some couldn't make it through. You and me are witnessing the 'now' and not knowing the future (when, how & why) scares some. There's no escape, for all of us are pilgrims. I remember one such a dark time in my life; you know sometimes we think we have it all under control, sometimes we find the strength even to cheer the next person, and when we get to face the other side of our fragility...what do you do? or What did you do? (Please, l would love to hear your experience in the comments section, someone might find a better way out).
Personally; thanks to the people we call 'true friends' (I hope you do have one), a sis just popped, rightfully on time, reminding me that l'm no superbeing.........
I know, maybe now you are faced with 1+ fragilities. What is it? How are you managing? (Please do visit the full text on link above)
"Although we sometimes try to flee these realities, Pope Francis said, the imposition of ashes “reminds us of who we are”. "This is good for us, he stressed – it helps prevent narcissism, and brings us back to reality, making us “more humble and available to one another”.
OUR HOPE
Ashes has two sides: it reminds us of two key things, one is 'fragility'
"....ashes remind us also of our reasons for optimism"
“The ashes remind us, “of the hope to which we are called in Jesus, the Son of God, who has taken upon himself the dust of the earth and raised it to the heights of heaven.” "Such hope is important, because, without it, we risk 'passively enduring the fragility of our human condition' and, in the face of our own mortality, “sinking into sadness and desolation”.
NOW WHATS THE CALL TO ACTION?
Pope Francis exhorts us to “return to God with all our hearts” (I hope you attended #AshWednesday Holy Mass, if not - take a look at the Readings (Joel 2:12-18; Ps51:3-7, 12-14, 17; 2Cor5:20, 6:2; Ps 95:7d-8a; Mtt6:1-6, 16-18).....this is the starting point
“Let us place Him at the centre of our lives, “so that the memory of what we are — fragile and mortal as ashes scattered upon the wind — may finally be filled with the hope of the Risen Lord.”
#youngpeopleoffaith #thenow #2025jubileeyear #JubileeYear2025 #pilgrimageofhope #SpesNonConfundit #hopedoesnotdissapoint #HoldOn2Faith #ChristusVivit #ChristIsAlive #FratelliTutti #socialfriendship #ashwednesday2025
#Repent #Turn2God
#called #transformed #sent #AMightyCurrentOfGrace