Blog Post 2/22/2023 –Lent Begins, "Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return."

  

Lent Begins, "Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return."

One reason we may grow in wisdom as we grow in our friendship with Christ is listening to His teaching so we can see the deeper truth behind appearances, and if we look deeper and love more fully our Lent will bear much fruit.

A Reflection on Potemkin Villages

In the late 1700s, when Catherine the Great was empress of Russia, her top general, Grigory Potemkin, led a successful military campaign in the Crimea.  After his victories, Catherine wanted to bring her diplomatic corps on a tour of the newly conquered territories.

General Potemkin saw this as an opportunity to impress foreign dignitaries, and maybe even ingratiate himself even more firmly with the empress.  So, he arranged her tour of the Crimea.  Unfortunately, the conquered territories had been devastated by the fighting, so they were not a very impressive or encouraging sight.

Potemkin dodged this difficulty by creating what have gone down in history as "Potemkin Villages."  Catherine and her travel party boarded a boat and began drifting down the Dneiper River, which cut right through the territory in question.  On the banks of the river, Potemkin ordered the construction of elaborate facades of villages - like theatrical stage sets. 

Then he arranged villagers and shepherds to populate these illusory towns right before the empress would arrive.  During the night, the sheep and the villagers would travel along the banks of the river down to the next artificial village.  From the boat on the river, these constructions looked prosperous and sturdy, but behind the false fronts, there was only desolation and grinding poverty.

Lent provides us an opportunity to take an honest look at ourselves and beg God for the grace to live our Christian life more faithfully and more fully.

 

May God Be Praised.