Ash Wednesday Reflection

The Revd Leila Mather writes: "Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, the start of the season of Lent. A time when we remember our mortality, and therefore the tremendous gift of life that each one of us has been given. At our baptism, we were signed with a cross that can never be taken away from us. At our death, we may be signed with a cross as a reminder of that moment.

"On Ash Wednesday each year, we hold those two events together, knowing that we are loved, knowing that our lives, and the lives of others, are a gift, knowing that we don't always treat ourselves or others in that way. And so we take time through Lent to bring our hearts, minds and bodies back to a place where they care deeply about the love of God and the gift of life in ourselves, and in the whole of creation, through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving."

For more reflections, see St Mary's, Bradford Peverell