YEA! All the excuses of staying on a good diet are eliminated! Today!
Then 40 days (minus Sundays in the Roman Rite) suck.
No sugared goodies. Nor birthday cakes.
Vegetables, meats, some grains. And on Fast days, only one full meal a day.
Planned starvation.
Forced fasting. Good habits to instill. Bad habits to eliminate. Alms to increase to get rid of avarice.
Yes. It’s Lent.
Ash Wednesday…
On Ash Wednesday we remember that we, human beings, are created from dust. And unto dust we will return.
Lent is about holding fast to what is good and removing what is bad in our lives. It is about life. And death.
Death…
Death isn’t something to be feared. It is about life. It is about living it well. Making sure your family and neighbor have what they need. Learning to give things away. It is something we should keep in the forefront of our minds daily. We need to live today as if we will die at any moment.
When standing before the throne of God, what will your life look like? Who did you affect? And how did it touch them?
Were you a good example to others, or did you show you were focused on yourself instead?
Spiritual exercises…
This Lent will be the opportunity to once more incorporate the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. The last time I went through them, I got stuck on one of the first ones. And I never forgot it. What would it be like if I were to be eternally separated from my Creator? Knowing, for all eternity, that I’d made a choice to turn my back on Him? There would be no other opportunities to change my mind. Once I take my last breath, the decision is fixed.
The thought of being separated from Someone Who loves me so much that He created my very being was heart wrenching.
I told God that even if I were in Hell, I would praise Him. And I’ve been through hell on earth many times. He reminded me of that promise I’d made. And, struggling, I would renew it in the midst of total darkness.
If it were not for His Grace and His loving hand, I would not have survived many of those times.
But God is good. He is better than any human on earth. I owe Him everything. He owes me nothing.
What to do…
This Lent, I need to practice that better. The times we are about to enter in the world today are dark. Lent reminds us that there is Light at the end of every tunnel.
But we must turn to Him to see it.