Woo Hoo! A get to change the first number to a 3 today! Now that my projects of home makeover have settled down, I have more time and energy to think and write. I did do alot of thinking while painting my walls and furniture, however. One thing I found interesting is how some people I've encountered over this past month think they know all there is to know about Lent and fasting, and get really irritated and haughty with others who don't practice it or know so little about it (as if the others are lesser Christians). Yet their lives are filled with blatant selfishness, boasting, rudeness, and pride. It's been one of the many interesting little rabbit-trails I've been privy to while on this endeavor.
Which again, brings me back to one of my first posts about how so many of the people I see regularly partaking in and exercising Lent, evidence no real change in their hearts. Which honestly casts a big cloud over the whole discipline! Something I read recently in an article about Lent said, "the real challenge facing the believer is not, therefore, "What shall I give up for Lent?" but rather, "How can I be filled with the Spirit? (1)." (I can't believe I'm actually citing this properly! Way to go Mrs. Spradling for ingraining that into me so well)! Anyways, that thought really stuck with me. To do this thing of Lent and really be changed, it has to be so much more than just an annual exercise that you check off your "to do" list and mark with a gold star. Otherwise it becomes as anticipated as a pelvic exam or a teeth cleaning. Stuff you have to do because you know it's in your best interest, but you look forward to it about as much as poking your eyes with needles! And I'll be honest, much of my attitude towards this whole thing has been about as happy as that! And so, that's why this next little blip has also stuck with me.
"Nevertheless, I was always taught, "If you gave something up for the Lord, tough it out. Don't act like a Pharisee looking for a loophole." Moreover, an emphasis must be placed on performing spiritual works, like attending the Stations of the Cross, attending Mass, making a weekly holy hour before the Blessed Sacrament, taking time for personal prayer and spiritual reading and most especially making a good confession and receiving sacramental absolution. Although the practices may have evolved over the centuries, the focus remains the same: to repent of sin, to renew our faith and to prepare to celebrate joyfully the mysteries of our salvation (2)."
So, may I resolve to tough this thing out for 16 or so more days, and may I not focus on me throughout it, but may my heart and mind truly be filled with the Holy Spirit, and turned towards the things of God and His sacrifice, towards others in their needs, and towards the faith that I hold so dear, not so that I can receive my gold star, but so that I can have a changed and pliable heart that actually looks more like Jesus and less like me.
1) http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2000/marchweb-only/34.0.html
2) http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0527.html
- others I found interesting:
- http://www.churchyear.net/lent.html
- http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2000/marchweb-only/33.0.html
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