• Home
  • About
    • Monastic Life
    • Gallery
    • History
      • Holy Cross Abbey
      • Cistercian Order
      • Property and Battlefield
    • FAQs
    • Videos
  • Take Part
    • Pray with us
    • Visit
      • Service Times
      • Directions
    • Vocation
    • Lay Members
  • Vocation
  • Retreat House
    • Testimonials
  • Cemetery
    • Overview
    • Stones
    • Rules Overview
    • Pricing
  • Store
    • Gift Shop / Porter’s Cottage
    • Bakery Products
    • Webstore
  • Updates
    • News
    • Liturgy
    • Abbot’s Lectio Post
  • Contact

Holy Cross Abbey

901 Cool Spring Lane Berryville, Virginia 22611

Support Us
  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Ash Wednesday

March 6, 2019 by Fr Joseph

Colloquially, we sometimes speak of “dying for a cup of coffee” or “dying for a vacation.” Teresa of Avila had a similar longing, but it wasn’t for coffee, but a consuming desire to see God. As a child she briefly ran away from home with her brother hoping to go to the land of the Moors and be martyred—for, as she explained, I want to see God, and to see God we must die! In this she was, of course, paraphrasing God’s own proclamation to Moses: No one can see me and live! The necessity of dying to see God admits of two senses: Firstly, our physical death and what we hope will be our face-to-face encounter with God and the fullness of Eternal Life; and, secondly, what this holy season is all about: Dying, even now, to all that impedes our present union with God. It is this Lenten effort to die to self and sin that will help ensure that our physical death will be the transition into the fullness of life and our face-to-face encounter with the One we have sought all our lives. Precisely because we cannot yet see God face to face, and behold him only through the dark vision of faith, it is all too easy to be distracted from this quest, become absorbed in this passing world, and lose that desire to see God. The church, recognizing this danger, gives us this annual Lenten season to refocus our attention and reembrace this “dying to self” that paradoxically, leads to Life and its fullness in union with the God who alone will fulfill the longings of our broken hearts. Therefore, as we begin this holy season, may the ashes imposed on our foreheads proclaim our “dying to see God”—the one desire that we can be sure will be fulfilled if only we do not give up.

Share

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Abbot's Lectio Post

Documentary Trailer

Watch the full-length documentary on the videos page.

More Video

Support Us with a Donation

Contact Us

Newsletter Signup

Holy Cross Abbey

901 Cool Spring Lane
Berryville, Virginia 22611-2700
Phone: (540) 955-4383

  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Quicklinks

  • Cemetery
  • Retreats
  • Directions
  • Links
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy

Get Involved

  • Pray with us
  • Visit
  • Vocation
  • Support Us

Copyright © Holy Cross Abbey - All Rights Reserved
Website Development and Management by MarketSpark
Maintenance Log -  Webmail -  Admin