"Let us begin again, for until now we have done nothing."

The words above were among the last spoken by St. Francis. There is a rebuke there, but also a certain comfort: We can begin again, and perhaps this time we'll be able to do something.

I'm pretty good at beginnings; at perseverance, not so much, as anyone who has read (why, I can't imagine) this blog certainly knows. Maybe this time it will be different. At any rate, I'm disposed to try, if only as a Lenten penance. So let us begin again.