Lent 2015 – The First Anniversary

th_Singing-with-Daddy-at-indigoAt 3 am on February 18, 2014, the Chariots came down and carried my Father across the River Jordan.
One Year later, I stand on Ash Wednesday, a day when we proclaim as Catholics that “to dust we shall return”.

Lent begins this 1st anniversary of My Father’s death – a 40 day season intended to call us into a time of self-denial, moderation, fasting, and the forsaking of unhealthy habits.

While it may appear to be a Christian season, what could be greater than for each of us, whether we profess a belief system or not, to go into the desert for a while?

How valuable for each of us is a season that asks us whether we can live without and still be at peace. What can you live without this next 40 days and still be at peace?

We think we can’t do without this or that . . . when in fact, the wealthiest are those who need the least.

And the poorest are the ones who have so much and still want more.

As an addictive society always needing the “fix”, Lent is the time when we live without the “fix” and trust that there is something greater and more peaceful beyond.

It is the season when we gather together as a people of faith, whether in 12 step groups or in small neighborhood communities, and help each other see what eye has not seen and what ear has not heard.

That there is a Higher Power
and that Power is Love.

This I know. Because I lost my Father one year ago on this day and I thought I could never live without him. And I am living very well.

Because in my humble opinion, He did not come from nor return to dust. He came from and returned to LOVE.
And nothing can separate me from that LOVE.

W. Nicholas Abraham, PhD, LPC