It’s Mardi Gras today. A very subdued one due to pandemic. Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, which marks the time of fasting and contemplation in preparation for Easter. Emmaus Community, AbbeyChurch and St Matthias ( host of the Chapel Gallery ) have made a booklet of reflections and prayers by community members to accompany this time of year. I am thankful to have contributed a reflection and the cover images.
I was asked to provide the cover images and suggest a title. I chose to combine two words found in a list from the clergy into a simple phrase: Spring in Winter.
It sounds unexpected, miraculous like the blossoms here in Victoria that bloom in February. It is a play on words- is it spring or is it a spring that emerges from the dark; from the deep underground. Flowing water, not ice or snow, emerging just like the blossoms bloom from the dark and the deep of the body of the tree- and then are let go and transform into fruit. Spring in winter….we are weary, but perhaps, by tapping into that life beneath the surface of our circumstances, we too might feel something blossom and flow within us.
Cornelia van Voorst 