A Meditation for Ash Wednesday, Lent

An admonition from two of the great wise men of Catholicism.

Recently.  Excerpt:

“Do not become utterly absorbed in activism! There would be so much to do that one could be working on it constantly. And that is precisely the wrong thing. Not becoming totally absorbed in activism means maintaining consideratio — discretion, deeper examination, contemplation, time for interior pondering, vision, and dealing with things, remaining with God and meditating about God. One should not feel obliged to work ceaselessly; this in itself is important for everyone, too, for instance, every manager, too, and even more so for a Pope. He has to leave many things to others so as to maintain his inner view of the whole, his interior recollection, from which the view of what is essential can proceed.” – Pope Benedict XVI, Light of the World

And from the Middle Ages (cited by Dr. Alan Schreck in Rebuild My Church: God's Plan for Authentic Catholic Renewal).  Excerpts:

...The man who is wise, therefore, will see his life as more like a reservoir than a canal. The canal simultaneously pours out what it receives; the reservoir retains the water till it is filled, then discharges the overflow without loss to itself. He knows that a curse is on the man who allows his own property to degenerate. And if you think my opinion worthless, then listen to one who is wiser than I: "The fool," said Solomon, "comes out with all his feelings at once, but the wise man subdues and restrains them." Today there are many in the Church who act like canals, the reservoirs are far too rare. So urgent is the charity of those through whom the streams of heavenly doctrine flow to us, that they want to pour it forth before they have been filled; they are more ready to speak than to listen, impatient to teach what they have not grasped, and full of presumption to govern others while they know not how to govern themselves...--St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermon 18 on the Song of Songs

A thing which, I frankly admit, I am terrible about. Too much needs doing, no time to pause and pray!...

Heh. Thank heavens for people interceding behind the scenes, or else I would fall flat on my face a lot more than I already do...

Speaking of my falls and faults, it seems only appropriate, at 3:00 on an Ash Wednesday afternoon, to do as we always do at the start of every Mass:

I confess to almighty God,
and to you, my brothers and sisters,
that I have sinned through my own fault,
in my thoughts and in my words,
in what I have done, and in what I have failed to do;
and I ask Blessed Mary, ever virgin,
all the angels and saints,
and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me
to the Lord our God.