Today Is A Very Special Day

Today is February 14th.  It is Valentine's Day, a day when love is the theme.  But today is also Ash Wednesday, a day when we remember our mortality as the Lenten Journey towards Easter begins.  

Today, before you give chocolate to your loved one with ashes on your forehead, we invite you to consider the embodied traditions of the day as you enter into the love of God and others on this very special day.  

We invite you to enter into the solitude of your heart for a few moments and reflect on this passage from Holy Solitude, our Lenten Prayer Journey guide book by Heidi Haverkamp (pp. 17-18).  

In the silence, allow yourself to feel the LOVE in your body as the Holy One reminds you today that though you are dust, you are wholly and deeply loved.

In silence, we can become more aware of the inner spaces of our bodies.  The noise and distractions of life may keep us stuck in the mind: problem-solving, making lists, navigating places and people outside ourselves.  Coming to a full stop in solitude and silence can allow your mind to descend into your body and heart.  What is it like to grow awareness of your inner rooms, your "interior castle," as Teresa of Avila described it?  You can become more aware of your breathing, remembering that the Holy Spirit moves through you as breath (pneuma in Greek and ruah in Hebrew mean both "breath" and "spirit").  Meditate on the goodness of your body -- each limb, organ, and cell -- remembering that God created you, flesh and spirit, and knows every hair of your head.  Spending time in solitude and silence allows you to become more familiar with the sensations and the fact of your body -- its strengths, wonders, emotions, and pains -- and so then to navigate your exterior life with greater awareness.  The Spirit speaks to us through the sensations of the body: our longings, fears, and furry.  We feel LOVE -- from God and people -- primarily as an incarnate reality, inside our bodies. 

As you breathe in the Divine Presence, allow the LOVE of God to touch your forehead and then feel the flow gently descend through your body and through your being as you share that LOVE with your loved ones today.  

Blessed Ash Wednesday.  Happy Valentine's Day.  

This year, our Lenten Series at Rolling Ridge focuses on embodied spiritual practices to help you listen to your body for the Divine Love of God.  If you want to spiritually grow through the incarnate reality in your body, join us as we consider how music, quiet, art, yoga, and tai chi open us to God.  

We invite you to join us on the journey from Ash Wednesday to Easter and to make every day Valentine's Day and the opportunity to know in the fullness of your being that YOU ARE LOVED.