This coming week, we enter into the Lenten Season with Ash Wednesday. Each year, Lent is designed to help us renew our hearts and our faith as we approach the celebration of Easter and the Resurrection. We wear the ashes on our foreheads as a sign that we have embraced this season and that we plan to observe Lent in our lives.

One of the pervading themes of this season is the longing for an end of winter and the onset of the new life of spring. As the weeks go by, we try to build up that yearning. The desert ambiance and the cacti plants in our sanctuary simulate the barrenness that reaches out for new life.

This year, however, I think we already have a built-in longing for spring and the new life of Easter! No need to look further than our backyards to see how the life of nature has been buried deep under the snowdrifts. Once again as I write, the air is filled with another snowfall that promises a foot or more and winter continues at full force.

But in spite of it all, we continue to cling to the hope of warmer days and budding trees and flowers.

This morning, I heard from Fr. Peter Devlin from Dublin with his prospective dates to be in Hudson. He mentioned that even in Ireland he heard that Hudson got some of the highest snow depths! Our town has made world news!!!

With the email from Fr. Peter, it is a reminder that the seasons will change and we will once again experience Spring!

In the meantime, we enter into this time of lent and pray that God will renew our spirits and bring us to life once again.