Our Lady of Ashes

The pilgrim was touched by this spiritual reflection of Our Lady as our eye and the eye of the universe who was the first to see the True Light, and by which we may to see all by His Glory through her. MYSTAGOGY | The Mother of God as "Eye" and "Earth" by His Eminence Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou Every feast of the Mother of God is a matter of joy for the entire Church ... The Panagia [Blessed Virgin] is the spiritual eye of the universe. Just as only to the eye light is given and thereby other members of the body receive its value, so only to the Panagia was the true light given, and through her, who is the eye of the universe, all members, that is all of mankind, was offered light.

O God, the exaltation of the lowly, who willed that blessed Saint Margaret should excel in the beauty of her charity and patience, grant, through her merits and intercession, that, carrying our cross each day, we may always persevere in love for you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. —collect for the common for Holy Women A personal favorite and I hope a friend, St Margaret's early life would feel very much like a contemporary's. She was born to middle-class parents; didn't get along with her step-mother; moved out of the house to live with her boyfriend, Arsenio; had a kid out of wedlock. She was devout but like St Augustine (and so many of us) her prayers were often to "maker me a saint, but not yet." Then one day while out walking she met her boyfriend's dog and she was compelled to follow until she found Arsenio's murdered body. ...

[Christ] is seated  at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the sanctuary and the true tent which is set up not by man but by the Lord. For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; hence it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. They serve a copy and shadow of he heavenly sanctuary. — Heb 8:1-5 In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. — Mat 22:30 There seems to me a powerful link here between the reading from Hebrews in today's Office of Readings and Matthew 22 that speaks to priestly celibacy, and I offer a few off the cuff reflections.