What Can I Say on Ash Wednesday?

I know my title rhymes but I'm not posting a poem today.

It's Ash Wednesday and I feel bad that I can't go to mass. My mom was able to go to Ali Mall and have ash placed on her forehead.

But Ash Wednesday is more than just ash on one's forehead. I would have wanted to go to Confession first. How I wish I could avail of the Sacrament of Reconciliation to make things right between me and the Lord again.

So instead of going to a real mass, I went to mass "online". There is this website I log on to www.themass.com. Even if the mass is always that of the day before, it's the next best thing to actually going to mass. (During Sundays, I "attend" the TV healing mass of Rivers of Living Water Community at 9 am.)

I also listen daily to Bible reflections by a Catholic priest in www.usccb.org. You can also listen to daily mass readings in this site.

This morning, I prayed the rosary so I won't be too sleepy to pray it tonight (as if often the case).

I ate bread only this morning. Fish and tomatoes this lunch. And for dinner, I will just eat scrambled egg and rice. BUT I ate caramel popcorn for merienda.

Later on today, I will write a longer entry in my spiritual journal. It's actually my journal of prayers to God. I shall pray for people, all sorts of people - people I love, people I know, people I hardly know, people who don't know me even.

Sometimes when you're confined to a condo unit because of health problems, it is easy to think that there is little you can do for God and for others. Lent is a special time. A time for meditation, for prayer, for sacrifice. I can do all these things without lining up in church for someone to put ash on my forehead.

And for the rest of Lent, I should try my best to be good.