Welcome to the desert.

I got ashed! Instead of lunch today, I went to a church down the road from my office for a midday Ash Wednesday mass. During mass, the priest welcomed us to the desert.

Catholic my whole life and I never looked at Lent like that. I never thought about the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert. I never thought about the way that when you’re going to travel a desert, you’re going to pack light because bringing what you don’t need with you will weigh you down. It’ll get in the way.

So I encourage you to leave what you don’t need behind as you start to journey through the desert that leads to Easter. What can you do without?