Carol Cominsky

“Each time we peer into the mirror, our minds are set to wondering: Am I looking older these days? Am I as attractive as I used to be? Should I get surgery? Maybe I should get contacts, buy wrinkle cream, or color my hair. Mirrors, by their very nature, focus us on our physical appearance in the most superficial of ways. And by constantly rerouting our thoughts back to how we look, they make us sitting ducks for advertising ploys that promise to make us more attractive.”
― Paula Huston, Simplifying the Soul: Lenten Practices to Renew Your Spirit

“PRACTICE Today, wear your oldest and least presentable clothes, no matter what's on the schedule. Notice how people react. Think about what it is like to move about in a consumerist society when you cannot afford to keep up appearances. Pray for awareness regarding your own sense of self-worth when you are not “looking your best.” Ask to be freed up from this unnecessary self-preoccupation. Notice how the flowers grow. They do not toil or spin. But I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of them. (Lk 12:27)”
― Paula Huston, Simplifying the Soul: Lenten Practices to Renew Your Spirit

“Today, try sleeping on the floor for the first hour of the night. Think about your own death. Ask God to help you ponder what is almost impossible to comprehend. Ask him for wisdom and insight, and most of all, hope in the promises of Christ. Then go off to your warm bed in a state of thanksgiving. Watch, therefore; you do not know when the lord of the house is coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning. May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to all: “Watch!” (Mk 13:35-37)”
― Paula Huston, Simplifying the Soul: Lenten Practices to Renew Your Spirit

“Christian faith keeps reminding us that death is the doorway to eternal life,”
― Paula Huston, Simplifying the Soul: Lenten Practices to Renew Your Spirit