I like Lent. It's not a crazy fun time, but I like that we have it. I also like that it lasts for 40 days (plus Sundays).
I don't like ignoring of the chunk of Ordinary Time that falls between the Christmas season and Lent. Ordinary doesn't mean mundane of boring. It is a season all about hope. The Gospels at the masses during this time are all about Christ's public ministry; the miracles He performed, the people He healed spiritually and physically, the parables He told and the explanations He gave. It's about His ongoing works of redemption. This isn't something trivial or negligible- this is huge. Without this public ministry, His passion, death and resurrection would not have been the climactic events that they were and are.
Why am I saying all of this? Every year, it seems like many within popular Catholic culture want to just glance over this time and hurry up to "prepare for Lent." Lent itself is a time of preparation. It is preparing for Easter. I don't understand this need to get ready for getting ready. Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for planning ahead a little. By all means, think about what you might give up for Lent, or what extra tasks or prayers you might undertake. Plan with your families if you will participate in extra devotional practices. But I'm not a fan of trying to "jump start" Lent. Let Lent be Lent.
I'm honestly tired of the usual and cliche lines that get thrown out this time of year about making Lent a holy time. "Don't just give up chocolate. Look more deeply into your lives and find something meaningful to give up." You know what happens? The person who was all set to give up chocolate or some other "empty pleasure" now feels like that is inadequate- despite the fact that nothing we could give up would compare to what Christ sacrificed for us. So this person is now searching for the thing to give up that would be holy enough. Lent starts and he or she is still drawing a blank- so no sacrifice is being made. What could have been a perfectly wonderful exercise of self-denial has been reduced to not good enough.
Then there are the people who spend this pre-Lent time talking about their plans to lose weight, or deal with some other distasteful habit, and the plans to make this a life-long change- like Lent is the second chance to kick-start that New Year's Resolution. Then, those people spend Lent bragging about their dramatic weightloss. There are times when Lent can help us overcome a major obstacle in our walk with Christ. One year, my parents, without consulting each other, chose to spend that Lent working to forgive a family member for some really hurtful things that had been done and said. Come Easter morning, they didn't "take back" the forgiveness. But a Lenten project like that, which would spill over into the next season seems far more in keeping with the spirit of Lent and comes with a lot fewer bragging rights.
What really irks me is when the people who have poo-pooed the sacrifices of others and are in the midst of their self-improvement plan, then decide that they need to give up something else for Lent- like TV- to be truly holy. Then, when you see them on Sunday, they are talking about the things they watched or what they plan to watch because, hey! it's Sunday and Sunday's don't count. Huh? As a Church, and I know I'm over-simplifying this, we give up "alleluia" for Lent. We don't suddenly bring it back for Sundays. And when it's something like TV, and the person never really watched TV except for Sundays anyway, I'm left scratching my head. I know that Sundays are supposed to be mini-Easters, foretastes, if you will, of the joy of the resurrection. But that doesn't mean you have to un-give up whatever sacrifice you're making. It's still Lent. Look, I can't earn my way into heaven. I'm counting on Christ's mercy. How legalistic do I want Him to be with me? So I'm not a fan of being legalistic with Sundays in Lent.
While we're on the subject, let's also get one more thing cleared up. Fasting is the restriction of food with a prayerful purpose. It isn't a diet plan. Abstinence is giving up a certain item. We fast on Ash Wednesday and on Good Friday (and we're welcome to use it as a means of prayer and sacrifice at other times too). We abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent. So when you give up TV, you aren't "fasting from TV," you're "abstaining from watching TV."
My point is, have a good Lent. Christ spent 40 days in the desert. That's it. It was enough. Don't worry about if you're giving up something holy enough. You know if you're making a sacrifice and little ones made often are sometimes far more meaningful by their very nature. And don't forget about this Ordinary Time. Let this time be holy in its own right.
I don't like ignoring of the chunk of Ordinary Time that falls between the Christmas season and Lent. Ordinary doesn't mean mundane of boring. It is a season all about hope. The Gospels at the masses during this time are all about Christ's public ministry; the miracles He performed, the people He healed spiritually and physically, the parables He told and the explanations He gave. It's about His ongoing works of redemption. This isn't something trivial or negligible- this is huge. Without this public ministry, His passion, death and resurrection would not have been the climactic events that they were and are.
Why am I saying all of this? Every year, it seems like many within popular Catholic culture want to just glance over this time and hurry up to "prepare for Lent." Lent itself is a time of preparation. It is preparing for Easter. I don't understand this need to get ready for getting ready. Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for planning ahead a little. By all means, think about what you might give up for Lent, or what extra tasks or prayers you might undertake. Plan with your families if you will participate in extra devotional practices. But I'm not a fan of trying to "jump start" Lent. Let Lent be Lent.
I'm honestly tired of the usual and cliche lines that get thrown out this time of year about making Lent a holy time. "Don't just give up chocolate. Look more deeply into your lives and find something meaningful to give up." You know what happens? The person who was all set to give up chocolate or some other "empty pleasure" now feels like that is inadequate- despite the fact that nothing we could give up would compare to what Christ sacrificed for us. So this person is now searching for the thing to give up that would be holy enough. Lent starts and he or she is still drawing a blank- so no sacrifice is being made. What could have been a perfectly wonderful exercise of self-denial has been reduced to not good enough.
Then there are the people who spend this pre-Lent time talking about their plans to lose weight, or deal with some other distasteful habit, and the plans to make this a life-long change- like Lent is the second chance to kick-start that New Year's Resolution. Then, those people spend Lent bragging about their dramatic weightloss. There are times when Lent can help us overcome a major obstacle in our walk with Christ. One year, my parents, without consulting each other, chose to spend that Lent working to forgive a family member for some really hurtful things that had been done and said. Come Easter morning, they didn't "take back" the forgiveness. But a Lenten project like that, which would spill over into the next season seems far more in keeping with the spirit of Lent and comes with a lot fewer bragging rights.
What really irks me is when the people who have poo-pooed the sacrifices of others and are in the midst of their self-improvement plan, then decide that they need to give up something else for Lent- like TV- to be truly holy. Then, when you see them on Sunday, they are talking about the things they watched or what they plan to watch because, hey! it's Sunday and Sunday's don't count. Huh? As a Church, and I know I'm over-simplifying this, we give up "alleluia" for Lent. We don't suddenly bring it back for Sundays. And when it's something like TV, and the person never really watched TV except for Sundays anyway, I'm left scratching my head. I know that Sundays are supposed to be mini-Easters, foretastes, if you will, of the joy of the resurrection. But that doesn't mean you have to un-give up whatever sacrifice you're making. It's still Lent. Look, I can't earn my way into heaven. I'm counting on Christ's mercy. How legalistic do I want Him to be with me? So I'm not a fan of being legalistic with Sundays in Lent.
While we're on the subject, let's also get one more thing cleared up. Fasting is the restriction of food with a prayerful purpose. It isn't a diet plan. Abstinence is giving up a certain item. We fast on Ash Wednesday and on Good Friday (and we're welcome to use it as a means of prayer and sacrifice at other times too). We abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent. So when you give up TV, you aren't "fasting from TV," you're "abstaining from watching TV."
My point is, have a good Lent. Christ spent 40 days in the desert. That's it. It was enough. Don't worry about if you're giving up something holy enough. You know if you're making a sacrifice and little ones made often are sometimes far more meaningful by their very nature. And don't forget about this Ordinary Time. Let this time be holy in its own right.