Through the fire.
A blessing for your Lenten journey
Dear fellow pilgrim,
Lenten has become the season of giving up things. Coffee. Cookies. Often something we usually should not have in the first place. I am not a friend of Lenten-givings-up for the sake of giving up.
But I understand where people are coming from. Originally these practices were meant as a practice of detachment. To let go of something which is important to us. To practice letting go instead of holding on.
And thus the practice of detachment can look different for different people just as we cherish different things.
You might feel your soul is stretched out, already thin, or in need of a truckload of ashes in order to lament the state of our world. You might have become as weary of Lenten-givings-up as you are of New Years resolutions. So have I. What could we even give up which would matter in the grand scheme of things, would matter to the child clinging to dear life in the ruins of Ukraine or Gaza?
And so I lament today…
Navalny.
Murdered hope.
Cowardly dictators.
cheered on by wanna be dictators.
Money makers.
who sell the truth for golden sneakers.
How long, oh Lord, how long shall this last?
Perhaps Lent is after all not so much about giving something up but more about deepening. About walking slowly and waiting patiently for Spring to finally come, about being present to the lengthening days even as the snow still flies, even when the present is full of mourning.
Waiting as pottery rests, to be burned in the oven, to be finished.
Lenten comes from the Germanic Old English “lencten” which means lengthen. Lengthen as in the days which lengthen towards Spring. Just as we walk through the lengthening days of winter’s ending there comes the time when birds start to sing. Spring is coming, dear traveler. With hope in its wings.
Do not despair, dear one. Hold on to hope. Be the hope.
A Blessing for your Lenten journey
The fire is not burning you
it only melts away what is not needed.
The weariness is not unending
it too will melt away,
in the potter’s fire.
Rest now in the storm.
Rest…
and dream of Spring.
And may hope abound within you, Almut
PS: If you can, leave a heart, a word or a line which resonated with you in the comments, so we know you have been here :-)
About Almut
Almut Furchert, Dr. phil., Dipl. Psych. is a German American scholar and practitioner, a psychologist turned philosopher turned writer, traveler, photographer, retreat leader and mother of a pre-schooler. She has taught and published on authors like Kierkegaard, Buber, Frankl, Yalom, Edith Stein, and Hildegard of Bingen. Almut is also a Benedictine Oblate and lives with her family in a little college town in MN.
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I spend so much time preparing and writing so others can experience Lent that I almost forget to let the season be real. This year I decided to practice the prayer of Examen at midday. So far I'm finding it helpful to notice what is happening emotionally underneath the to-do list. Am I making a pastoral visit in the hospital, or am I helping someone be in the divine presence while they are sick and vulnerable?
Thank you and well said 🙏🕊️