I really do love Lent. But it hasn’t always been this way. In the past it seemed to be very difficult for me to think about giving up a glass of wine at dinner or forgoing my beloved chocolate. Zeroing in on my faults has never been an easy task, either. But for some reason, (maybe it’s that I’m getting older) it has become almost a relief to have a time in the liturgical season to live intentionally, to let go of a particular food pleasure and to truly work on improving who I am. Forty days doesn’t seem like a long time to make sacrifices, to work on becoming a better person, but temptations come quickly and a little voice tells me that sneaking a small Dove chocolate square won’t make a difference. And running into someone at the grocery who begins to tell me a little gossip makes my ears begin to burn. A call comes at a very inconvenient time but it’s a friend who needs a shoulder to cry on and someone to listen. The alarm goes off and I feel I’d like to stay under the warm covers a little longer but I said I’d go to Mass. There are a million small sacrifices that can be made each and every day and I’ll probably fail at a lot of them. But I want to try. I want to really try. Letting go and detaching from the ways of the world and being present to others’ needs will hopefully strengthen me and draw me closer to Christ. I pray that the good habits I hope to develop during these 40 days will carry over well beyond Easter.
I pray, too, that you will have a fruitful Lenten journey. Let’s come out on the other side a better people.