ASH WEDNESDAY

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent. Catholics who go to Mass here, today, will have their foreheads marked with ashes in the shape of a cross. It symbolizes belonging to Jesus, and a turning back to Him more resolutely, in preparation for the coming joy of Easter. The ashes themselves represent repentance and penance - Ash Wednesday is a day of fasting. They also symbolize our mortality..."Remember man, you are dust and to dust you will return."

I broke my rule about not posting a blog entry unless I had a photo, the last time. But I intended to come back and blog about my day and add a photo then. Only I accidently deleted the photo in my camera. It was a shot at a graveside service.

A man in our tiny community had been seriously ill for some time. Members of our church and another church had been doing what we could to take care of him - providing meals and care, and taking him to dialysis, when he would go, but he was just is such bad shape, physically and mentally. And it was such a horrid Catch-22 type of situation to get him the aid he needed. Snafus like...he had no electricity, but the electric company couldn't hook him up again because he had no septic system, and he couldnt be hooked up with a septic system because they are no longer allowing new ones...and on and on. He has no SS number because he wasn't a legal U.S. citizen...or was he? (Conflicting information.) However, years ago, he had um...bought...a S.S. number on the black market, but had since lost the card and didn't know the number. He couldn't get some kinds of aid because although he had no income and his house was in horrid shape, he had a nice barn/shop on his property that was worth over the amount whereby your property value is considered low enough to get aid. Anyway, some medical aid had been gained toward the end, but he died in his home a few days ago. There was miscommunication or denial from the cemetery, because they have no indigent space, so that he was unable to be buried locally. He had to be buried in the next town. Mass for him was Monday, and about 15 or so locals attended, then went to the burial site afterwards for a graveside service there. He has no known living relatives. Ex-relatives and step-children's whereabouts are unknown. So it was just a very sad thing.