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Ash Wednesday

Today Lenten season begins.


Together with the Filipino participants, I am going to attend Mass for the traditional ash-marking in the forehead. Since I am in a far away land, it is an opportunity for me to look back and reflect on how my life has been. I know I have a blessed life. I have been given so much. And I am thankful for all that come my way.


There were good memories. There were sad memories even painful ones. But even the littlest detail of my life has been a lesson learned. When I picture the people who are always there for me in my mind, I just can't help but ask, have I been there for them?In the process, there were those who came and left their marks behind yet there were those who came and left scars in my heart. Nevertheless, somewhere in my life, I have been me.


I was touched. I was hurt. And nothing compares the pain of loneliness, of emptiness, of being ignored.


As the season unfolds, let it be my resolve to look back and let go of the heavy burdens in my load. A new me, a new person, it is what I want to accomplish in this journey.
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