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LOTUS OF THE HEART
All is Welcome Here
Living in Love beyond Beliefs
Following Ash Wednesday worship at midday, I leave to go on a visit. I walk into the home, patient and spouse present. She, wife of the patient, is delighted that I just went to the worship service, but disappointed she could not. I could understand somewhat, for she is a devout Catholic. She asks earnestly, with a smile, about the cross of ashes on my forehead, "May I have some of your ashes?" I say, "Oh, I think it's all gone." I had looked in the truck mirror on the way, and I did not see any ashes. "No, it's still there," she says. "I would be glad," I tell her. She walks over, while I bow my head. She moves her finger over the ashes. She backs up, then she marks the sign of the cross reverently on her forehead. We smile. Such a lovely moment of Sharing, a timeless witness to Grace. For a brief time, through reverence in a simple ritual, we transcend where we are, and connect with centuries that have lived before, and those who will live after.
These movements of timelessness into time remind us we are One, and that the beauty of sharing is witness to the Sacredness we are. Yet, we need not over-think such moments, or explain them, for in doing so we are likely to be removed from the immediacy of the Grace and the joy of the Communion. To say "Love happens" retains, somewhat, the simplicity and mystery of these reverential transactions among us, wherein we are more truly ourselves than we usually see ourselves to be..
*Move cursor over pictures for photographer and title.
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