Lent's promise.

by Virginia M. Kimball, S.T.D. | Source:

Lent's Promise
Spring's song of hope is frozen tonight,
thinking death unwelcome in such cold,
someday only a frozen body
beneath moonlight gleaming
across a cemetery field,
but tonight wind howls and stars
form native myths above our head,
...and hearts harbor hope.

Tomorrow's morning will begin again,
rosy glow, like someone opening windows
of the day wider, sun higher in its axis,
forsythia flock twittering, snow opening
its collar to green under a pine tree,
iced ponds birthing black pools of water.
Death swallowed in the victory of the cross.
Christ's answer to death.

"As ice in water overcomes the liquid
so long as night and darkness last,
but then breaks up under warm rays
of sun ... so death ruled over us
until Christ came. When the joy
of God our Savior appeared, and a sun
of justice rose up." (St. Basil the Great)
Our new birth arrives,
rescued from winter.
In Pascha
rebirth in the thaw.

Reflection on the image:
Here we see a picture that represents the cold darkness of the late winter months. In the frigid cold we can sense the fragility of our existence. We are dependent on warm houses and warm clothes. We are vulnerable. It is this vulnerability that we want to fill with God's love and life. Lent is placed in the liturgical year in these months so that we can sense our need for God, as the days grow longer, the light comes sooner and brighter in the day, and life begins to stir under the snow and ice upon the ground. For those who live in this kind of climate, Lent can be felt, sensed, and understood in a deep way -- God's hand of creation is the source of our life, the hope of our soul.

Check out the all the Lenten Journey with Mary meditations.

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