Lent can be a dreary time for me, Ash Wednesday, a day of inner cold
and restless wandering, from one inner space to another.
Bread and water, so hard for me to take, yet I do and try to pray, seeking
to ignore the gnawing hunger
.
A time when my inner darkness becomes my partner for a time,
and yes time drags as the days slowly pass. Yet it is also for me
a time of richness and seeking light within the darkness, a season
of conscious searching and seeing myself stripped down to nothing,
where my only hope in a world of finite things, unstable and falling
slowly towards oblivion…. is the unfailing faith in God’s love and mercy.
Br. Mark Dohle, OCSO
Holy Spirit Monastery
