Lent Begins

This morning I was in an 8am Mass for Ash Wednesday, and the associate pastor had words that I think sum up the Lenten season to a great extent. "This is not Catholic New Years where we make resolutions, and break them a few days later. This is not a time we are supposed to make ourselves miserable, it is a time of sacrifice and penance but not misery!"

All too often I think we view this time of the year as a "I'm giving up blank" and nothing else. Of course the flip side of this was also something Fr. D. captured in his homily, that we many times take it to the opposite extreme and instead of being lackadaisical we end up making ourselves miserable by piling on so much and by convincing ourselves we are not allowed to be happy. We are allowed to be happy though, we're supposed to be happy as Christians and to be known by our love! We're not supposed to be known by, "It's Lent, he's such a killjoy during Lent!"

Personally I resolved to make one spiritual post on this blog a week for Lent, and I'm giving up my comfort food for this arduous semester, ice cream sandwiches I've been eating on an almost nightly basis. Could I do more? Most likely. If I did more would I be able to keep to it, or would I end up violating my Lenten vows? Most likely the latter.

I am resolved to follow through with my sacrifice and my spiritual devotion I've taken on rather than overburden myself as I have in years past. I've disappointed Him and myself enough in the past by taking on too much and failing. So let us remember to sacrifice what we can, to offer up what we can't, and to smile instead of being dour the entire season. We approach the death and the Resurrection of the Christ, the most holy of days!