Ruminations on Lent

[thomryng]

Quite chill outside today. It's the first day this week I've managed to get to school before the tardy bell. Not that I've fixed hours, mind, but I do like to be at my desk before the students.

This is my second Lent and my first as a Catholic, having spent last year in the catechumenate, a word that here means "a group of overwhelmed students pressed for time".

When I was young and at Catholic school, I'd see the students around me "giving up something for Lent". I always thought it was silly, truth be told, as if God was somehow going to be impressed with some poor schlepp not having candy bars for forty days.

But it's not about that. Lent is a time of re-purposing and re-dedicating. It's not about privation for the sake of privation, or some sort of self-inflicted punishment from an overdeveloped sense of guilt.

It's about clearing away the things that distract us. It's about re-focusing your self on God.

I don't think it's about giving up so much as replacing.

So yeah, I'm giving up chocolate. ;)

Many people take on new spiritual excercises or practices during Lent, or find a new fervour in practices they've let slide. For myself, I'm going to attempt daily Mass in addition to praying the Hours. We'll see how that goes. I must remember to remind myself that perfecting oneself is not nearly the same as being perfect, which is in any case impossible.

What do you, my dear reader, do for Lent? Or if you're not a Christian, how do you rededicate and renew your faith? Or if you've no faith at all, what do you do to take stock and focus your life?

Edited to add: After Mass today, we had the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. Quite a surprise to me. Singing in Latin no less. Who would have thought? I really should read the schedule more often at some point.

Comments

[queen-in-autumn.livejournal.com]

I like what you've written here about "replacing".

I don't know if you've had the time to read, but my journey has been all about rededication and renewal recently, and even though I've never done Lenten observance, my process seemed to coincide all too well this year.

In addition to the 15 minutes I've set my morning alarm back to give me more time to devote to a brand-new meditation practice, I've also un-installed a particularly compulsive and mind-numbing computer solitaire game than can suck my brain out for an hour at a time before I realize what's happening.

And will you and the lovely jaynefury be available at any time for a party at my house on March 25 or 26? See my March 2 entry for details.