Feb 17 2010
Ash Wednesday
Turn Away From Sin and Be Faithful To The Gospel
So, our Lenten journey begins again. From last year’s Palm Sunday branches, we get ashes–a stark memento mori.
I won’t get to attend Mass today; I had a nuclear medicine scan, so I’m sort of radioactive. While I was waiting for the drugs to take effect (read: sitting at Riverside for four hours), I got a lot of reading done. A lot of time for prayer and reflection.
I read the Hours–the Office of Readings and Morning Prayer.
I read My JPII book of reflections and my Magnificat Lenten Companion.
I finished Signs of Life, Scott Hahn’s newest book (that’s been on the ‘to read’ pile forever).
And I read the Mass readings from my Magnificat.
In short, there was a lot of reading,a nd a lot of time for it. A lot of time for prayer. And in a hospital setting, prayer is pretty important.
The lounge where I was waiting was near the surgical waiting room. A few pre-op patients were wandering about, in their gowns and toting IV poles. It can be a long wait back in pre-op. (I had my CI implanted at this hospital, so the surgery areas were familiar to me.) All of those people needed extra prayers today.
A friend of mine was having a biopsy today. I prayed for her.
If I hadn’t been “waiting around for four hours” , would I have had time for all this? Probably not. One cannot be really meditative at work. At least not my work.
It was a very fruitful waiting period. I enjoyed it.
And the day’s not over yet.
