Lessons from the ashes...

From Egotism and Cruelty

to Love of Ones Neighbor and Friendliness

to Prayer and Faith…

Love the title pages in this film!

 Cinderella1914 with Mary Pickford

Part 2 can be viewed on this same link

If my life had title pages for the lessons I've learned, or rather, like Cinderella,

pointing to the lessons I am about to learn...it's a fresh perspective on perspective, eh?

There is something innate to the human soul that knows that, every so often, one must make a journey of descent, be smudged, lose one's lustre, and wait while the ashes do their work. All ancient traditions, be they religious or purely mythical, abound with stories of having to sit in the ashes. We all know, for example, the story of Cinderella. This is a centuries-old, wisdom-tale that speaks about the value of ashes. The name, Cinderella, itself already says most of it. Literally it means: "the young girl who sits in the cinders, the ashes."  Moreover, as the tale makes plain, before the glass slipper is placed on her foot, before the beautiful gown, ball, dance, and marriage, there must first be a period of sitting in the cinders, of being smudged, of being humbled, and of waiting while a proper joy and consummation are being prepared. In the story of Cinderella there is a theology of lent. ~ excerpt by Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI