Lenten practices

[domestic goddess]

Now that the season of Lent is almost upon us, what are your plans to observe this holy time? Do you plan to give something up, do you plan to add something to your spiritual practices, do you plan to watch the moss grow, what is your plan, if you have one?
I'm not sure I really have a plan, but I have been stuffing myself with Girl Scout Cookies today. Plan to make a chocolate cheesecake later.
I am thinking about reading The Final Week: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus's Final Days in Jerusalem by Marcus Borg. Or maybe Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time by the same author. I'd like to spend some time with Handel's Messiah,and also with Bach's St. Matthew's Passion. I'd like to make a new string of prayer beads, since I seem to have lost my old ones. I'm sure there are other things I can do, like help in a food pantry or at a PADS shelter. I can get back to making prayer shawls, something that has taken a back seat to more immediate needs.
Looking forward to hearing from you. I always find great ideas that would never have occurred to me.

[catherine]

Do you plan to give something up, do you plan to add something to your spiritual practices

I've always found it easier to give up something than add something. But this year, after really thinking about it, my practice will be two fold, and I'm calling it my "Live Deliberately/Give Deliberately" Lenten strategy:

Live Deliberately: I want to practice mindfulness at a deeper level.. I'm going to try to rely on the basics of day-to-day life and give up everything else: No buying superfluities (sp??); I'm going to cook all meals from scratch and try to save money doing that, stop wasting as much time on the internet (nothing personal, folks).

Give Deliberately: I'm really good at all the introverted spiritual stuff: I have spiritual books galore; I pray; yadayada. But if I'm truly to challenge myself and go outside my comfort zone, I have to get out there--practice "love in action." So, I'm going to focus on finding a way to help out in the community. I'm thinking of volunteering at a nursing home. Because I'm so introverted, this ought to be a big challenge for me! But I feel I have to do it. It's too easy for me to hole away in my house reading all my spiritual books and call it a day.

[Anne Lee]

I feel somewhat unprepared for Lent this year. I haven't given the matter of Lenten practices any thought or prayer. The idea of fasting something seems bigger than what I can do. If I were a better person, I would fast sweets.

Maybe I will add an evening reading and meditation until I figure out the fasting part.

[Tradd]

Aside from the usual extra services and going no meat/no dairy, I'm just going to try to do the daily Bible readings. What with studying for the customs broker exam, I don't have time for anything else this year! I've got low expectations!

[Wildflower]

My 8 year old granddaughter announced today that she is giving up chocolate milk. Bless her heart, this will be a hard one for her! :)

I am still thinking on mine....

Guess I could give up all chocolate in any form. *sigh* :(

[Stella]

This year we are adding something. Since I am in my third trimester and have gestational diabetes, I have already given up most of the "usual suspects" for lent.

I wasn't able to fast yesterday because of the pregnancy issues, but we did keep it meatless and we made it to mass. I also gave up internet surfing for fun yesterday in lieu of a fast.

This was our family plan for lent.

-Making a commitment to daily family prayer. Right before bed we get together and talk about the day and pray for whatever intentions each family member has. We started this Sunday to get in the habit.

-I am going to continue going to the adoration chapel with my friend on Friday nights and Zach and I will go one night a week after the kids are in bed (Dad is home with them) to adoration together.

-Cheyenne has committed to pray the rosary daily. She started this Sunday to get in the habit too and has done it faithfully. She is preparing for her first communion in April and wants to use this time to get her heart ready for that next step. She is also collecting cans for an orphanage in Vietnam that is run by a nun from our church.

-Zach and I have set an intention as a couple to look for more ways to lighten each others burdens and treat each other with extra kindnesses. Little stuff. I brought him coffee this morning without him asking for it, for example.

-I started another thread about it, but I have challenged myself to random acts of kindness in my daily life for everyone.

-We have a friends and family service project coming up during lent. We will be volunteering with some families we are friends with to pack food for Feed My Starving Children. My friend organized it and I am very excited about it. I think it's a great idea to get all of the kids involved in that.

We also will be doing the obligatory meatless Fridays (we usually do anyway on Friday) and attending our Parish soup suppers, stations of the cross and that kind of thing.

[Anne Lee]

I've been thinking about tweaking my No S observance (No Snacks, No Sweets, No Seconds except [sometimes] on days that start with S) for Lent. I thought about fasting sweets entirely but I'll admit it, I just don't wanna. (Maybe that's a sign I should...)

So, I am going to start fasting sweets on Sundays, a day I would normally indulge. It's akin to fasting meat on Fridays fast but tougher for me. I still have Friday nights and Saturdays to enjoy a bowl of Ben and Jerry's; I feel like something of a slacker.

DH and I also want to start an experiment in community by opening our family dinner table to some people once a week.

[catherine]

DH and I also want to start an experiment in community by opening our family dinner table to some people once a week.

Cool idea!

[domestic goddess]

Wonderful ideas here, and I'm sure ya'll benefit greatly from them. I finding it hard to get started, myself, because of some family issues that are taking over my mind. A sigh, for sure, that I should be doing something else, but I can't seem to drag myself out of the rut I've been in right now. I am taking notes, though, and hope to be in a better place next year.

[Bronxboy]

Being in religious transition (another story), I'm not actually doing anything. Was strange not to make any particular note of Ash Wednesday, but it felt OK to let practice match belief.

[Anne Lee]

The Sunday fasting of sweets still didn't "feel" right. Too much and not enough both at the same time. But I had this moment today. I am excerpting from my journal


So it's after 3PM on a Thursday and I know what I should fast. My daily gumball. Most days I'm in the office I buy a 25¢ gumball for a little sweet treat, the tiniest bit of sugar and distraction in the form of chewing to get me through the afternoon.

I bought one yesterday on Ash Wednesday. But I think I shall otherwise remain gumball-less until Easter. A gumball fast is more of a daily practice, something to remind me that woman does not survive the long afternoon on gumballs alone. When I am weak, He is strong.

Be it so and so be it.

[Stella]

Anne, I like the gumball idea.

How is everyone doing so far on their lenten practices?

We've been doing well. We've done family prayer everyday and I went to adoration last night. Cheyenne has done the rosary now 6 days in a row.

I had some nice insights at adoration this week. One in particular really amused me and spoke to me. I always struggle at the end of pregnancy because I really dislike being physically limited. I have a strong sense of responsibility and it bothers me not to be able to do things because if I don't do them, who will? I know, in a sense, that this is pride and that the world does not hang as much on my shoulders as I sometimes believe it does, but it's a tough nut for me to crack.

Last night as I was praying about that, I had this image come into my head, a memory, of the time the kids and I surprised their Daddy with a new canoe.

We were driving to the store and Isabella, who was four at the time, was talking in the backseat. "I'm a strong girl mommy. The strongest girl ever. I could lift a building. You know what? I can put the canoe right on my back and carry it home." She talks a lot and I thought it was cute so I just said something like, "yes, baby, you are a really strong girl" and let it be.

We got to the store and picked out our canoe and we were waiting to check out when Bella started sobbing. I asked her what was wrong. "I don't think I really can carry the canoe home on my back," she said, believing that she had committed to carry the canoe home for me. I laughed and told her that it was OK, I had alternate transportation plans for the canoe. We would strap it to the top of the car. I wasn't really expecting a four year old to carry a canoe home 10 miles. I knew she couldn't do that, and it didn't mean she wasn't a strong girl. It just wasn't an appropriate thing to expect of a little person.

I got a sense that God was saying the same thing to me. Relax. Get in the car. I've got this one. It was an image that got through to me in a new way.

Anyway, I'm rambling. I just thought I'd share.

[catherine]

Anne, I like the gumball idea.


We were driving to the store and Isabella, who was four at the time, was talking in the backseat. "I'm a strong girl mommy. The strongest girl ever. I could lift a building. You know what? I can put the canoe right on my back and carry it home." She talks a lot and I thought it was cute so I just said something like, "yes, baby, you are a really strong girl" and let it be.

We got to the store and picked out our canoe and we were waiting to check out when Bella started sobbing. I asked her what was wrong. "I don't think I really can carry the canoe home on my back," she said, believing that she had committed to carry the canoe home for me.

That is so, so, cute! Yes, don't we all feel that way sometimes: "I CAN DO IT MYSELF!!" Until we realize what an unnecessary burden we are placing on ourselves--when there are others right beside us with the wheels and the ropes!

[Stella]

Catherine, it was really cute. It's funny how a thing like that can shed light on my own struggles.

[happystuff]

This is the first year since as far back into my childhood as I can remember that I have not "given up" something for Lent. I simply felt no calling to do so. If anything, I've been more contemplative of the season than ever before and feel as if I've had more spiritual growth than when I've practise the "giving up" version. It's been really nice.

[TVRodriguez]

Stella, this is so sweet. I love it.

This Lent, I didn't give anything up. We have quite a few folks who are down on their luck in our area (who doesn't?) and are often found asking for money at street corners. I decided that this Lent, I was actually going to give money directly to them, and I was going to give more than a dollar each time. Ever since I was a kid, I was taught to give to organizations that help the homeless rather than giving money directly to them. So I did that for a long time. And still will. But this year I thought, well, if I were in their shoes, I would appreciate someone trusting me with the cash. I just wanted to give a guy a $20 if I saw him rooting through a trashcan for food. So that's what I've been doing for Lent. I haven't kept track of how much I've given, but I hope that it was useful to some of them.



I got a sense that God was saying the same thing to me. Relax. Get in the car. I've got this one. It was an image that got through to me in a new way.

[Stella]

TVRodriguez, I love that idea! I was always told the same as you, but as an adult I do generally give at least a little something to people asking for money. My dad always cautioned about people who were trying to trick you or would just use the money for something other than food, but I've decided that the burden on me is to be kind. If I am taken advantage of in the process that is for the other person to sort out with God.

[IshbelRobertson]

As a long-lapsed Catholic, Agnostic - I don't do anything for Lent any more. BUT, I do bake traditional Easter fare for Easter weekend, ie hot cross buns and simnel cakes. In fact, I made a couple of smaller simnels this morning to give to elderly friends.