Ash Wednesday at VTS has been good, although I did miss being at St. Peter's. As is the custom at VTS, Ash Wednesday is one of handful of "quiet days," meaning we start out with morning prayer and a meditation inviting us to silence, we usually have a noonday office or Eucharist (today a Eucharist with imposition of ashes), and a closing at 3 to end the silence.

We are fortunate to have former presiding bishop Frank Griswold teaching a class here this quarter, so he did the morning mediation and the homily/meditation at noon. He's pretty amazing and said a lot of really great stuff, but my favorite thing he said (and this is a paraphrase of someone he was paraphrasing, can't remember who) concerned spending some time with Psalm 119. He suggested we chew on it like a cow chewing on cud, and like a cow, we should not become hysterical if we end up chewing on a thorn or two. Good for me to hear, since I sometimes get a little anxious when prayer is not going the way I think it should be going--as if I actually have all that much to do with it. Thank goodness I do not.

As a Lenten practice I am trying to set aside more time for prayer each day, and to that end am doing another Ignatian retreat-in-daily-life. I'll get a sampling of Ignatius's spiritual exercises over the six weeks, which I'm excited about it. I remain a big fan of Ignatius of Loyola, and am looking forward to discovering what these six weeks bring. Right now, though, must study a map of Paul's travels for an NT quiz and vocab for Hebrew. . . .