Lent

When February comes around I always think that winter is almost over, but then I wake up this morning (the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple 40 days after his birth) with -15 C, fresh snow on the ground and go hmphh. But it's overcast and gray, so I'm thinking that pesky little groundhog is not going to see his shadow and spring is four weeks away. More importantly Ash Wednesday is only three weeks away leading us into Lent so plenty of time to prepare our minds and hearts for this most important time in the Church and reflection in our own lives. As a side note I read that today is also National Palindrome day (is there a day that is not a national anything day) and brings to mind one of my favourites "Able was I ere I saw Elba"; but I also read that today Feb 2, 2020 is also one -"02022020". Then I thought what palindromes would be in the bible and how perfect that in today's gospel (Luke 2.22-40) we find one. The prophet Anna who worshipped in the Temple where Joseph and Mary brought Jesus in for his presentation. Other biblical palindromes are Eve and Abba (not English) and that's all I could find. On the other hand, quite a few in Hebrew - but I couldn't read them!