Ah, Behold the Power of Lent!

Lent is upon us and sometimes that can mean a whole hecka lot, or not so much to me. As I look at Lent's past, I see my Lenten Promises and what I can do different this year. Some years I did crazy things, others not much. As I reflect on Lenten past I see a pattern. I get really lazy/bored/uninspired? I can't necessarily describe it around the January/February time. A lot of the time, I start missing Mass. I just don't have the desire to go or necessarily want to go. And that is horrible. I do the same thing around late July/early August. I usually don't do this twice a year, just once. Well I just did that in the last month. With Lent coming up, I forced myself to go to Mass again. I'm not like super-hyper Franciscan Student about Mass right now, but I'm making myself go - no matter if I 'get anything out of it' or not. Lent is about sacrifice and that is why we make Lenten Promises. It's not about 'giving something up' but it's supposed to, in the end, make you holier. I sub taught the 7th graders on Ash Wednesday and presented them with a list of 100+ things to 'do/give up' for Lent. I didn't make them choose any of them, I just gave them some suggestions for something different than the 'give up candy/tv' usuals. It never fails, an Ash Wednesday doesn't go by without hearing the "I'm giving school up for Lent" thing which means I have to explain why that's not the point. It gets old, but I'm sure as long as I'm a CCD teacher I will ALWAYS hear that.
Needless to say, I'm not giving up candy for Lent this year or tv. I'm not going to divulge what Lenten Promises I'm doing, all I know is that in the end, I want to be out of this desert and somewhat back into my faith life that means something to me. A few years back, one of the Friars at FUS read a letter that the Bishop Daniel Conlon wrote to all the people of the Diocese. He asked us to abstain from meat every Friday for retributions against the sin of abortion and for an end to abortion. At first it was like, "Really? No meat on Fridays? Ever?" But I was up to the challenge. I'm not saying I have 100% accuracy, but it sure makes it more tolerable to fast during Lent, when I'm so used to Fasting on the majority of the Friday's of the year. Basically it was some good training, because it makes no meat Friday's in Lent not something to pout about. It gives me the courage to say, "I can do this!!!"
Some people are able to make their Lenten Promises and follow through with them flawlessly. They are some pretty remarkable people, especially when they are pretty tough challenges. I'm not that good, I slip, stumble and fall. I'm imperfect. I was just reading my reflection today in my "Give Us This Day" book. (It's seriously awesome, it contains Morning Prayer, a reflection on the saint of the day or a holy person, Mass Readings, a Reflection about the readings and Evening Prayer.) Today's reflection says:

"Have you stumbled upon this surefire way of connecting with God?
If you can be brave enough this Lent to let your heart be broken (again) by your own patterns of missing the mark, God promises to hear you, and heal you." 

When I read this I was like, okay, this speaks to me. I have been stumbling with connecting with God. I'm also not perfect, and I sometimes miss the mark. However, if I keep going to God, whether I'm 'getting anything out of it or not' I have to remember that He a) Hears me and b) will heal me. Wow! I love it! If you want to read reflections by the author, check out Kathy McGovern's website at http://www.thestoryandyou.com/.  That list of 100+ things to do for Lent I talked about earlier, included suggestions for those who are addicted to the internet, which I'm sadly one of. Instead of just giving up the internet, one of the suggestions was for those who blog, to write an entry about God/your religion/Lent once a week. So I'm going to try to do that. Somehow, I think these posts are rather just ramblings and such. Oh well. I'm trying and I'm not forcing anyone else to read it ;) Anywho, Lent has begun and behold it's power!

I took this picture a couple of years ago at The Shrine of Christ's Passion in St. John, Indiana.