Yesterday was Ash Wednesday. It was an odd day for me, my health wasn't on my side. My husband and I planned on attending the 7pm mass at the local church, but I was sound asleep for the night before he even came home from work. Fasting happened, only ate whole grain saltine crackers with my meds all day, but that had far more to do with the queasiness from switching meds and an urgent desire not to puke rather than anything religious. Alas, I was not a good Catholic on Ash Wedneday this year. But I did do a little scripture reading in the morning, and I downloaded that scripture-day app that I promised. I found an app that pulls a scripture from Proverbs every day. It puts it into plain language, which makes it even more fun.
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Here is the quote I've chosen to discuss for Ash Wednesday. It's a scripture from Isaiah chapter 58.
Quote:
"Deal thy bread to the hungry, and bring the needy and the harbourless into thy house: when thou shalt see one naked, cover him, and despise not thy own flesh.
"Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy health shall speedily arise, and thy justice shall go before thy face, end the glory of the Lord shall gather thee up.
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This is an excerpt from one of the readings that I would heard if I had attended Mass. The scripture talks about performing acts of charity in conjunction with fasting and the blessings promised for such an act. This stood out to me because it mentions healing: "thy health shall speedily arise." I found it a beautiful promise.
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Jewels - thank you for mentioning Yom Kippour! I always wondered what that holiday was about. I think I might just start a thread about it to gather more details on how people celebrate.
Zeraph - There would have to be a strong motivating factor to perform tasks like those you have listed, beyond simply proving one's faith. On a related note, I wonder if those who have no faith are lacking it simply because they choose not to.
Willravel- thank you for sharing your perspective. You have plainly stated the universal nature of the central theme of the season.