ash wednesday

Penitence is a huge part of Catholic culture, and today marks one of our most symbolic rituals of penance. Ash Wednesday heralds the beginning of the season of Lent, the 'forty days and nights' that commemorate Christ's wanderings in the desert.

John St. John Long, 'The Temptation in the Wilderness' (1824)
courtesy of tate.org.uk

The art of non-attachment: sand mandala

The practice of non-attachment is the work of a lifetime, and takes some very elaborate forms. The book and film Seven Years In Tibet introduced the lay public to the concept of the sand mandala, made by hours of dribbling loose grains of sand into beautifully detailed patterns - only to wipe the masterpiece away in seconds once it was completed.