Foot of The Cross. ⚓️

Ash Wednesday, Holy Ashes in the sign of the Holy Cross on our foreheads; ‘For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return’. (Genesis 3:19). Elaborate plans conjured up for this Lenten time of penance and prayer. Blank canvas, new beginnings in this small microcosm of purification that is Lent before we enter into the solemn celebration of Easter.

Today, ‘the long walk’, our last one before Ruairi returns to his own place tomorrow, le Cunamh De. Seagulls standing still on a house roof, statuesque beauty rooting us to the spot. Passing by the cemetery, we pause for prayer at Dear Mom and Dad’s grave. Snow on Cnoc na dTobair mountain, streak on the apex, tiara adorning her elegant beauty. Complacent sheep happy to be photographed, all the time in the world at their disposal. 

On way home, decadent white magnum ice-creams from Banks shop, sheer gratification until oooooooops! half way through, epiphany - my Lenten fast besmirched, fell at the first fence. 

‘Let Your Face smile on us O Lord’. (Psalm 4:6)

Home later, reading Donie O’Sullivan’s piece on his battle with anxiety and depression; ‘It is one thing to think about something and feel bad about it but it is another that it just keeps coming at you and at you and at you’, Donie shares. ‘So vital to drop useless stuff’, I call out to Ruairi sitting cozy watcing television. ‘Leave it at the Foot of the Cross’, Ruairi replies, like he knew what he was talking about, raising my spirits high as a kite. 

Wonderful closing to our sublime week from God.

‘So let us serve God alone, with all our heart and all our energy, for God is the good who fills our heart and gives it peace’. (St. Catherine of Siena)

‘Let us go often to the foot of the Cross. We shall learn there what God has done for us, and what we ought to do for Him’. (Cure D’Ars)