The first flowers for the Immaculate Conception are appearing at the coldest part of February here in the northern hemisphere. Don’t be fooled by the grass, as it seems that may have a layer of ice over it very soon.
These are purple flowers, closed for now, in protection mode, wanting to be ready this Ash Wednesday, bursting forth in their royal purple apparel so as to honor the Divine Son of the Living God who was mocked by King Herod, who put his own cloak over Jesus to send back to Pontius Pilate. I bet that’s one of the sources of Pilate wanting to write “Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews” over the cross upon which the crucifixion took place. After all, we read in the Gospels that it was that day that Herod and Pilate became friends. It was with this that the Chief Priests proclaimed to God that they have no king but Caesar, effectively a death sentence for Jesus, you know, because He was good and kind, because He is Living Truth.
So, the beginning of Lent. Are you in protection mode over against sin? Confession is the best way. Regular Confession.
ARISE! LET US BE GOING! 
Confession; check! Ashes, maybe.
On Sunday (7:30am), Father made the announcement that the ashes would be sprinkled on our heads, but did not mention any other changes or omissions. So we’ll see if the ashes are just ashes, or blessed ashes.
Flowers for the immaculate conception is the best series on this blog!