A Blessed Ash Wednesday

“Repent, and believe in the Gospel”. “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

It’s the beginning of Lent.

Today we celebrate Ash Wednesday.

I attended the 6:30 am mass this morning. So many lay ministers around to put ashes on the forehead of the mass goers. Ash Wednesday is a Christian holiday of prayer and fasting. It signifies that we ought to repent for our sins during the Lenten fast. Aside from the Advent and Christmas seasons, the observance of Lent is one thing that I also look forward to every year. It’s a beautiful tradition that we Catholics observe. This culminates on Easter Sunday. The priest reminded us that every person between the age of 18 and 59 (beginning of 60th year) must fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Senior citizens like me are exempted but if we are well and fit enough to observe it, so much the better.

I recently checked my dashboard after a few days of being absent from this blog. Gosh, it’s a good thing Akismet protects us from those spam comments which are usually from porn sites. Imagine, since I started blogging, there were 56,079 spam comments that I deleted from my blog posts. It is clearly annoying.

Thank you so much to all my new followers. Sorry, I haven’t visited your blogs yet but I will one of these days.

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Just Lovely

We had our twice-a-month marketing today. Timely preparation for the coming media noche. Costs of everything has gone up again. While almost every Filipino is struggling with high costs of commodities including basic goods, our rich politicians continue to amass wealth through corruption. Sorry, this is not what I want to blog about.

There is something wonderful about the giving qualities of my favorite vendors/sellers at the wet market. Every Christmas, they would give different gifts. Some gave me sturdy shopping bags, one gave me a recyclable grocery bag with zipper so you can fold into a wallet-sized one when you go out. I also received a hand towel from one of them. They may not be much for some people but it’s the thought that counts, right?

Cost of fruits have gone up again. I just bought two kilos of black seedless grapes and two pieces of honey dew. Come December 31, expect more mark-up on those different round fruits in the market. Filipinos have this tradition of serving twelve kinds of fruits during the new year. It is the only time in the year where you’ll find those fruits which are not necessarily sold during ordinary days.

I just hope 2020 will be a good year for all of us. HAPPY NEW YEAR in advance 🎉🎊💕🌷🍇🍎🍒

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Looking Forward To 2020

So this is the second day of Christmas. And it will last till the Baptism of the Lord. It is the shortest season in the Catholic calendar. That would be in January 12 next year.

How was your Christmas celebration? Ours was a quiet one with the family. I like all the reflections during the nine days of Simbang Gabi.

We exchanged gifts on the 24th. I like all my gifts. They are thoughtfully given. Nate and I played with his two water guns at the garden. He was the Blue Boy (with the blue gun of course and I was the Orange Lady. Precious moments with Nate.

I still can’t figure out how to attach photos here since there are no pictures in this tab’s gallery. They are all stored in my new phone. ♡☆. I am still finding it hard to navigate this gadget and update here on WordPress.

Do you also look forward to 2020? May the winds of change create a positive outlook for all of us.

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Miércoles de Ceniza

Today is Ash Wednesday.

I unconsciously donned a red shirt early this morning to get ready for the early morning mass. When I switched on the TV, everyone in the morning show were wearing red. Oh gosh, I forgot. today is Valentine’s Day too. Haha, as  I don’t want to wear red, I have to change.  We don’t celebrate  the latter.

The church is full.  What a lovely homily reminding the faithful that Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent, a season of fasting and prayer.  The ashes symbolize the dust from which God made us.  Ashes also symbolize grief, grief that we have sinned. The wearing of ashes on our forehead  is a sign of penance.

Seeing those fake roses, teddy bears galore and stems of single roses wrapped in cellophane and tied with a red ribbon, I just smiled.  Will they be able to sell all those in a day? I wonder. Just like the celebration of Christmas, Valentine’s Day has been much commercialized.

Let’s celebrate love every day, not just on hearts’ day.

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