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

[vonjunzt.livejournal.com]

I think giving something up really does help you refocus. Every time you feel that pang it helps remind you of God.

I've given up everything from caffine (which I have trouble doing now, as it would hurt my school performace) to alchol. This lent I'm reading a chapter from the New and the Old Testaments every day. I'm also ironically trying to eat more and better than I'm used to eating -- I realized that getting to the point where one eats two small meals (and I use the term loosely) or even just one meal a day probably isn't what God had in mind for one's body. So hopefully I'll start treating both myself and others with more respect now.