ONLY 39 MORE DAYS TO GO! YOU CAN DO IT!

There is not a lot of accountability in lent.  If you did not fast yesterday, chances are there was nobody around who had power to discipline you.  If you ate meat there wouldn't be a cut in your pay. If you are not giving up something for Lent (of doing something extra) you won't get a ticket.  If you are not diving into prayer and almsgiving, you won't receive a warning notice from the city.  Lent is entirely voluntary and you will get out of it exactly as much as you put in to it.

How awesome it is that we are encouraged in our self disciplines rather than under the watchful eye of a Big Brother.  It means that whatever we undertake, it is not a matter of outside forces guiding our actions from which we look forward to escaping the moment the pressure is released.  It is, rather, something that comes from within, forming habits and character, not just compliance.

May your Lenten practices steep you in Truth, bathe you in Goodness and set you aglow in Beauty for the rest of you life.

I'M GIVING UP THIS OLD PAIR OF SHOES FOR LENT

I've had these shoes forever.  The leather tops are splitting, there is a hole in one of the soles.  The backs are broken down from slipping them on and off without bothering with the shoes strings and the heels are worn to a terrible slant.  So I am giving them up for lent.  (My sister will be so glad.)

I've been holding on to them thinking that I might need them.  You never know.  I MIGHT need to be both semi-dressed up AND need to do something dirty at the same time - like dig a hole as part of a as of yet un-rediscovered Catholic ceremony not unlike Arbor Day.  So they sit there at the bottom of the shoe hierarchy awaiting their big day.  Which has not come for two years save for one time I wanted to make the point that I COULD still wear them walking the dog.

My life is full of this stuff.  I MIGHT need something.  Some day.  For Some thing.  And sometimes that is great.  "I've got one of those that has been sitting around for a long time!" is a wonderfully rewarding thing to be able to say.  Unfortunately it is usually followed by, "Now where did I see it last?"  And truthfully, it only happens about once a year.  The occasion to junk space allocation is not good.

So here is one of my Lenten resolves.  (Why isn't lent capitalized?)  Every day in lent I will give away one thing and discard one thing.  First on the list is this ratty pair of shoes (trash) and a pair of cufflinks (give away.)  I recommend this as part of your lenten practice.  It serves many purposes: un-cluttering your life - discerning what you really need - being aware of what you have - giving to others (charity) - becoming detached from things.

I have been chomping at the bit to get started but learned my lesson a few years ago when I tried this last.  The first 20 days - EASY.  The next 10 one had to be a little more discerning.  The last ten . . . OUCH!  (That's about 80 items!)  Now two things make it a little easier for me.  1st - we have a Good will truck on our property.  2nd - I am allowed to cheat a couple of times and walk over to the church a make a donation to the Poor Box as part of the give away.  But to do that too often is cheating and infringing on others works of charity for lent.

So I offer this to you as something to do for lent - give up your old shoes for lent.

ARE YOU READY? DO YOU HAVE A PLAN?

Wouldn’t it be great to wake up seven days from now and know exactly what you are going to do rather than scrambling and coming up with something less than spectacular?  We are seven days away from Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent.  There is no better time to prepare than now!

 

There are all kinds of categories from which to choose!  So many options!  So many ways to grow in freedom, joy, and holiness!  It is like an amazing box of chocolates.  Which one will you take?  The difference is that chocolate taste great but then leaves you with that extra pound around your middle.  These, however, may taste a bit bitter at first but then leave you with many gifts and consolations.

 

MENTAL

PHYSICAL

EMOTIONAL

 

You are an entire person.  You faith effects all of these.  What can you do to make them better in 40 days?

 

PRAYER

FASTING

ALMSGIVING

 

These are the basic, but not only tools.  These come first however.  They are the foundation stones.  How will you meet all of them during these 40 days?

 

DO

DON’T DO

 

What have you NOT been doing that you should?  What have you been doing that you shouldn’t?

 

SELF

OTHERS

GOD

 

In addition to what you can do for yourself, what can you improve in yourself for others?  What can you improve in yourself for the Kingdom?

 

PERMANENT

PERIODIC

TEMPORARY

 

Sometimes people will ask if Lenten observances should be just during Lent?  Can they be skipped on Sundays and Feast days?  Well that depends.

 

Let’s say that you are trying to give up drinking too much alcohol for Lent.  Drinking to excess is not good for you (or those around you) anyway.  So that would be a good one to start in Lent and carry our through the rest of your life on a pretty much absolute basis.

 

What about giving in on Sundays?  There are a number of questions to ask.  Firstly, is it something that is otherwise not good for you or sinful?  Then no, don’t do it on Sunday as a “break.”  If you gave up cake, don’t eat an entire cake on Sunday in celebration.  ON THE OTHER HAND (and here is a good reason to plan things now) what is your commitment?  Is it something that is not necessarily bad for you in moderation?  Did you give up coffee except on Sundays?  Or did you give up coffee?

 

ALONE

FRIENDS/FAMILY

PARISH

 

Is you Lenten observance (or part of it) something that you are doing quietly – a “don’t let your right hand . . .” thing?  Do you want to employ others for support?  (I highly recommend this for breaking habits.)  What is your parish doing for Lent?  Plan NOW to join that which you will have wished that you did at the end of Lent.  (Stations, missions, benedictions, confessions, concerts, classes, adoration, daily Mass . . .)

 

In any event – plan now so that at the end of the season you don’t have to think, “Wow, I really didn’t take advantage of this season in the least.”  You will have eaten it down to its marrow and rejoiced in the improved you.

GUEST BLOGGER: THE MEAT OF THE MATTER

Today we are blessed to hear from our correspondent in Rome, Fr. Ott, about fasting.  Even though the end of lent it is very timely.  Read at your own risk for now you will know. 

To understand why Catholics (and many other Christians) don't eat meat on Fridays in Lent, we first have to understand the roots of the disciplines of fasting and abstinence in general. Then we need to see what it is about Fridays in Lent that make abstaining from meat an appropriate thing to do.

Fasting in the religious sense refers to consciously limiting the amount of food one consumes, for the purpose of arriving at a deeper spiritual awareness. It is a very ancient and biblical spiritual discipline (cf. 2 Sam 12:16; 1 Kgs 21:9; 2 Chr 20:3; Ezra 8:21; Jud 4:13; Esth 4:16; Joel 1:14; Jonah 3:5-7; Acts 13:4). So what does limiting my food have to do with my spiritual life? Eating is something that we generally do rather instinctively, without thinking much about it. I simply feel hungry, and so I go get something to eat, and then I don't feel hungry any more. But when I intentionally disrupt that cycle by fasting, it takes me off of "auto pilot" and helps me to realize what wonderful gifts our creator has given us. Life itself is a most amazing gift, as is the rest of creation, which sustains us and makes life worth living. When we fast, it causes us to stop taking things for granted. Thus it helps me to become more humble and grateful to God for his blessings of life and creation. This is why fasting and prayer are often linked together (cf. Lk 2:37; 5:33). The reordering of priorities, and the renewed sense of blessing and purpose that comes from this brings about greater mental and spiritual clarity, which is why it is often done to prepare for big decisions or life changing events (cf. Acts 13:4; 14:23)

Abstinence is a more specific kind of fasting, in which one completely omits a specific food or activity, often because of its symbolic meaning. This is also an ancient and biblical discipline, often requested by God himself (cf. Gen 32:33; Ex 22:30; Lev 11:4-11; Deut 14:7-21). We don't always know the reasons why God has asked for abstention from various things at certain points in history, but mystics and thinkers sometimes try to guess at these reasons, so that they might have a greater sense of purpose in obeying the law. Deut 14:21, for example, says "You shall not boil a kid goat in its mother's milk." Some have suggested that this is because this was actually a foreign religious practice, and therefore it was inappropriate for Israel to undertake it. Others reasoned that boiling an animal in the milk of its mother was just inhumane.

In the case of abstaining from meat during the Fridays of Lent, you won't find this specific rule in the Bible, because Lent did not exist yet when the Bible was written. But both the season of Lent and the discipline of abstaining from meat on Fridays are practices that are deeply rooted in biblical imagery.

The concept of a forty day pilgrimage is very well attested in the Bible. There are several periods of "forty days" in the world-purifying story of Noah and the flood (Gen 7:12, 17, 8:6). Moses spends forty days up on Mt. Sinai, receiving the Law from the Lord (Ex 24:18). Elijah journeys for forty days to escape Jezebel and get to the mountain of the God (1 Kgs 19:8). And of course, Jesus fasted and prayed for forty days in the desert (Mat 4:2; Mk 1:13; Lk 4:2).

It is out of this tradition that the Church established the forty day season of Lent. During this time, we seek to draw nearer to Jesus by going "into the desert" to fast and pray with him. And giving up meat on Fridays is part of this Lenten pilgrimage project.

To understand why this is, it is helpful to substitute "meat" with a more archaic word that means the same thing: "flesh." This gives a twofold mystical meaning to our abstinence. It can first of all remind us of the sacrifice of Jesus. On Good Friday, he gave himself completely for our sakes: flesh and blood, soul and divinity. When we give up "flesh" in this minor symbol of abstaining from meat, it is a small token reminder of the supreme sacrifice that Jesus gave up for us on the Cross.

The second meaning comes from the Bible, especially the Pauline letters. St. Paul likes to use the word "flesh" to mean "a proclivity to fall into sin" (cf. Rom 7:5, 25, 8:3-13, 13:24; 1 Cor 3:3, 15:50; Gal 4:29, 5:13-24, 6:8; Eph 2:3). In particular, he emphasizes that by conforming ourselves more perfectly to Jesus, we allow our "flesh" (i.e. tendency to sin) to be crucified (i.e., destroyed) along with his "flesh" (i.e., his body) (cf. Gal 5:24; Eph 2:14)

Now, to be sure, there were some cultural factors that led us to adopt this symbolic action. Eating fish instead of meat has at times been a symbol of solidarity with the poor, since fish was sometimes seen as poor people food, since you could catch your own for free. Some have even suggested that there was a time when politicians in areas of Europe with a large fishing industry promoted this discipline as a service to their constituents. But none of these reasons, if they ever existed at all, matter to us now, because these conditions no longer exist.

So, why do we give up meat on Fridays? The Church is just asking us to make a significant action each Friday to remind ourselves that the Lord died for us on that day, and that we should respond by continually asking him for the grace to turn away from sin. And I do mean EACH Friday. Before Vatican II, Catholics were asked to abstain from meat every Friday of the year. After Vatican II, this specific discipline was limited to Lent, but we are still supposed to do something sacrificial every other Friday of the year. I think the hope was that faithful Catholics would go beyond the "letter of the law" and more fully embrace the spirit of it, finding creative and meaningful ways to express their union with Christ through personal sacrifices. But I think that's been kind of a flop. Most Catholics probably have no idea what this is about.

But now, you can spread the word ;)

QUICKLY - I MEAN FASTLY

Can you imagine one day being part of the middle class in a safe middle class neighborhood planning on retiring there someday and living out your years playing with your grandchildren perhaps on the same playground equipment with which you entertained your children, and the very next day finding yourself living in what amounts to a third world country, homeless, wondering where you next meal might come from, not having adequate access to health care, and your land possibly polluted beyond use.

It can happen. It happened in Japan this past week. I look out my window and think how fragile it really all is. What suffering there must be there.

Sometimes people ask what is the point of fasting – purposefully bringing difficulty into our lives when it so readily comes of its own accord. It is true that such disciplines might not benefit a person. Like poverty, it itself is not holiness but a pathway to holiness. If you are doing it to look good in a swimsuit as warmer weather comes upon us then it will not do you much good.

If you are doing it simply to be obedient to the Church law, then it does you some good, but not as much as it could. If this is the level you are at and are wondering why it doesn’t do more for you, remember if you pray the same way every time, your rewards will be the same every time.

There are a whole host of positive reasons to fast. One of the most important is self discipline that allows us to live in freedom. We do not need to reward and self-medicate ourselves to get through life. We can truly enjoy earthly delights without being addicted to them. Christ wants us to live in freedom. One way to do that is to freely give up what brings us pleasure to make sure we can. Perhaps if we should ever find ourselves in the situation that our brothers and sisters in Japan find themselves today, we will hold up better than some for we will know that life is survivable without every creature comfort.

Fasting should bring us out of ourselves. Don’t simply fast, let it lead you somewhere. At a minimum if you fast you should have time and saved resources. What are you going to do with them? Will you think of those who are fasting today because they have no choice, those who, if they stay up till midnight will not have a refrigerator to sneak down to have a midnight snack? The extra couple of dollars you have in your pocket from not eating – is it going to just go to something else that distracts you are will it lead you to an act of charity?

True fasting leads to prayer, which leads to charity, which circles back to fasting. Plan the path that leads you to holiness when next you fast.

And be thankful that St. Patty’s Day does not fall on Friday this year.

YOU'VE GOT LENT IN YOUR BELLYBUTTON

Did your Lenten practice last year make you a different (better) person at the start of this Lent? Do you have something on which to build? Do you foresee your Lenten resolves this year assisting you in becoming a better person so that at the end you did not simply spend 40 days trying to be good like a youngster might in the days leading up to Christmas only to revert after the impetus to be good is over? If so, make it a prayer that God assist you in your endeavor. If not, rethink your Lenten resolve.

Today is a day of fast and abstinence. As you pass through the day, do not merely experience it but every time your body reminds you that you are not eating a handful of pepperoni as it would like, make it an occasion of prayer – even if it is lamentation.

FRIDAY PORPOURRI: WHAT? NO CHIPS FOR AN ENTIRE HOUR? HOW BARBARIC!

We are days away from Lenten fasts and the Catholic maxim, “When Catholics feast they really feast and when they fast they cheat.”

The fact is that though we often associate fasting with Lent, we are called to do it all the time. It is recommended to Catholics to practice fasting from time to time. It was, after all, a practice of Christ our exemplar par excellence.

Fasting, at its minimum, is really not all that difficult though it can be trying from time to time. The Church in her wisdom makes the laws of fasting rather lax in order to make it as accessible a practice as possible.

For example, the Eucharistic fast which Catholics are obliged to follow every time they receive Communion is one hour before receiving Communion. If receiving at Mass a half hour of that is in Church (though I have seen some people who cannot survive Mass without snacks) and if your parish is any distance much of the rest of the time involves getting ready and walking/driving to your parish. One hour is hardly a stretch of the capabilities of man. This fast of one hour does not exclude water and medication and for the sick and the elderly it is reduced to 15 minutes. I’ve heard homilies that were 15 minutes. This 15 minute rule also extends to those attending to the sick and elderly IF the one hour fast would be too difficult.

Required fasting days are reduced to 2: Ash Wednesday (just around the corner) and Good Friday. These are hardly stringent expectations. That the perception that eating fish is part of it may be (I loathe even the concept of eating fish) but that too is false. One is NOT required to eat fish on a fast and abstinence day. That is why God made cheese. But I digress.

On these two days we are actually required to cut back our eating to normal proportions – perhaps that which most of the world get to eat if they are lucky: one meal and two smaller – usually a small breakfast (which probably should be renamed on such a day) and a collation or snack (small meal.) The two latter should not add up to more food than is in the main meal. (Mind you – this is a minimum!)

If you have not completed your 18th year, or are over the age of 60, you are not obliged. According to the EWTN site, “Besides those outside the age limits, those of unsound mind, the sick, the frail, pregnant or nursing women according to need for meat or nourishment, manual laborers according to need, guests at a meal who cannot excuse themselves without giving great offense or causing enmity and other situations of moral or physical impossibility to observe the penitential discipline.”

Lastly, from the same source, “Before all else we are obliged to perform the duties of our state in life. When considering stricter practices than the norm, it is prudent to discuss the matter with one's confessor or director. Any deprivation that would seriously hinder us in carrying out our work, as students, employees or parents would be contrary to the will of God.”

WHEN IS FAST NOT FAST ENOUGH?

Fasting is anything but fast. In fact it just drags on and on. Yesterday was a day of fast and abstinence and all I could think about all day long was breakfast on Thursday and how wonderful it was going to be even if it were just butter toast.

When I went to the University of Akron a few friends of mine and I used to fast during lent for three days on nothing but water and juice. What made it particularly challenging was that the Wonder Bread factory is located just off the campus and the smell of baking bread would often waft across the campus. That alone should have knocked some quality time off of purgatory.

Yesterday if you truly fasted you realized how much of our lives revolved around food. All day long I was presented with food that was sitting out. Even for things that I don’t like my body kept crying out, “There! That! You could eat THAT!” And what do you do in place of dinner time? Well, we played Scrabble. I won.

There are only two days on which we fast as a people: Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Wow. Two days of simple portions out of the whole year. The minimum for the fast is one full meal, a small breakfast and one collation or light meal if you are between the ages of 16 and haven’t yet celebrated your 59th birthday. That’s not a fast! That’s eating sensibly! I WISH I ate like that all the time then I wouldn’t be looking at my waist line thinking “Golly, I better start doing something about that.” . . . “Someday.”

If you want to pray, we are told, give alms. If you want your alms giving to mean anything, fast. If you fast, make sure that you pray. These are all interconnected and essential for great growth in the spiritual life. Discipline is directly related joy. It is directly related to joy because it is directly related to freedom. “Are we truly free or are we slaves to our desires?” is what our

And fasting can be done anytime. Skip that cafasting is asking of us. Can we say no? If we want to say no to the big things we must practice in the little things. If we want to say no to the little things we must occasionally challenge ourselves in the big things. ndy bar. Have water instead of pop. Do something constructive instead of watching T.V. or goofing around on the computer. Learn to fast and learn to live in freedom.