Category: Lent

Let Your Voice be Heard

When I was a student in university, in the States, back in the 70s, there were rallies and protests everywhere, against the Viet Nam war. I went to a lot of them, we all did. I haven’t joined many protests since then (any, I have not joined any since then). But I think it’s time to become a feisty senior citizen and get politically involved once again.

I like words, I like playing around with them, but lately I see words being played around with in a deceptively misleading manner. Point of fact – the abortion issue – when did the phraseology change from pro-life and abortionists to pro-choice and anti-abortionists? Did you catch it when it happened? It was a long time ago, and, because it was not met with much opposition, it stuck. The positive connotation of PRO carries a lot of weight.

Last week, while listening to the news I heard the term doctor assisted death, and I wondered when that had changed from doctor assisted suicide. Words can imperceptibly change our opinions in cunning ways. Are we just not paying attention? Are we not listening? Do we no longer care?

I think it’s time we made our voices heard. One need not stand on a picket line to be heard, though it is a good way to get a point across. Letter writing is another way – put the power of words to good use; get involved with organizations that support your beliefs, help them get their message out. Whether you’re vehemently opposed to doctor assisted suicide; whether you’re in support of gun control or pro-life organizations; maybe you’re passionate about saving the planet…do something to aid a good cause. Our right to vote is a privilege that gives us a voice and so many disregard this very powerful tool. When we sit around and lament the state of the world, yet take no responsibility; take no action to change things; when we remain silent, we are a part of the problem. Be part of the solution.

Lent is coming. Let’s make a commitment to get involved in one of the many ways we can help to change the world in a positive, faith-filled way. A pebble dropped into a pond ripples outward and onward – be that pebble.

Catholic Faith God Lent Patience Prayer

Get Spiritually Fit

I got a Fitbit for Christmas – doesn’t just about everyone have one? I was home for several days over the holidays and it praised me constantly for my many steps, my calorie burn, my determination! Since I’ve been back to work I’m getting constant reminders…gentle nudges…little zaps, actually, telling me to get up and get moving. It got me thinking.

What if we were all equipped with a Spiritual Fitbit? Wouldn’t that be something? If we were sent gentle reminders…nudges…zaps from above, telling us to get moving, praying, reading scripture, attending Mass. I like the idea and I wish someone would create something to help us in this way. But wait a minute, someone has created a way to reach us and remind us to get spiritually fit. God the Father sent us Jesus, his son, then came the Holy Spirit; we have priests in our midst, guiding us with their homilies and reflections; we have Sacred Scripture and the Sacraments; there are books galore that can lead us closer to God and strengthen our faith.

But don’t you feel that you still need that little zap from time to time? What about when our thoughts and actions are not exactly Christ-like, wouldn’t a gentle reminder be helpful – a vibration, a jolt, something to wake us up to the fact that we have gone off track? Whispers of unkind gossip (zap), annoyance at fellow drivers (buzz), losing our temper with our spouse (zap, zap). And, of course, it’s not only in our thoughts and in our words and what we have done – but the one that trips me up every time – in what we have failed to do. That’s when I most need a zap – get up and help that person, go over and offer kind words, friendship, assistance – get moving.

At this time of year, most of my physical fitness is done on a treadmill – a lot of time and effort getting nowhere fast. I feel the birds visiting the feeders outside my window in the early morning are giving me a smug look – silly fool, can’t she see she’s not getting anywhere?

Let’s not run a spiritual treadmill – going through the motions with no progress in our faith. Lent will be here before we know it, so let’s get spiritually fit now, in Ordinary Time. That way we’ll get farther along on our Lenten journey with fewer zaps and jolts.

Catholic Lent Patience Prayer Uncategorized

Try Something New

I like to keep my life in balance – mind, body, spirit and I am grateful to God every day for the ability to practice those things that keep it so. You can imagine, then, how out of balance I felt recently, when a serious fall derailed my running for a month. I moped about for a while, bought a workout video, to keep moving until I could run again…then I stopped to consider…maybe it’s not just the inability to run that’s put me out of balance. Maybe it’s time to look more deeply into my other practices, to see what else might be off kilter.

Do you ever find that, every now and then, your prayer life switches to auto-pilot? You’re going along, going through the motions, but really getting nowhere? Fortunately, Lent comes along just in the nick of time. Lent is a call to conversion; its calls us to wake up, shake off the winter lethargy and get to work.

The great thing about a new routine is the enthusiasm and renewed energy it brings with it. The workout video I purchased was just what I needed – a change of routine; and it got my looking into other routine changes in other areas of my life.

I began to seek out new reflections and meditations to better aid me in reading the daily scriptures. It got me searching for new prayers that will lead me into deeper contemplation. I’m even looking critically at my usual Lenten routines to see how I might do better, how I might make it a more meaningful and fruitful Lenten journey.

Do you give things up for Lent? Is there a purpose to it, a spiritual benefit? Not a ‘what’s in it for me,’ but ‘what’s in it for others?’ This year I’ve decided that everything I do, or refrain from doing; everything I say, or refrain from saying, will be done for the sake of others; for the wellbeing of others. As I write this I’m thinking my husband might be the greatest beneficiary of all my Lenten promises, but that’s really not a bad thing, is it?

Let’s shake things up this Lent, let’s get creative for the benefit of others. Let’s fast – from anger, from hurtful gossip, from impatience. Let’s give generously – of our time, our abundance; let’s give smiles and compliments and kind words and hugs. Let’s pray without ceasing – as we drive, walk, prepare dinner, clean the house. Try something new this Lent, shake things up and it will bring new enthusiasm to your spiritual practices, I guarantee it.

Tags Catholic, Lent

Catholic coping Faith family God Lent love

Lenten Practices

It’s Lent and we can trudge through it looking dismal, so everyone knows we’ve taken on onerous practices, or we can open our eyes to the gifts God provides us with on a daily basis – and smile.

Are you’re like me? Sometimes the smallest change of routine can throw me off balance. We were looking after our son’s dog while he and his family went on a holiday to warmer climes. Not one week, not two…but three long weeks of a four legged addition to our household. I don’t need to tell you who looked after this guest. I was the one to take him outside first thing in the morning and last thing at night. My husband, who sleeps like the dead, was nowhere near rising when Banksy and I began the day and, in the evening he had long since ascended the stairs before the dog and I were ready to retire.

Our dog sleeps in a kennel in the kitchen, my son’s dog sleeps in their bedroom…on their bed – I drew the line there, letting him sleep in our room, but on his own bed. He sleeps in quite late, my son informed me. Well, no, he only sleeps in if the people he’s sleeping with do. When I rose at 5:45, so did Banksy, rearing to go.

Change can be discombobulating, it can make us ornery and cantankerous – but when we’re doing good things for others, is that the way to do it? I don’t think so. It rather defeats the purpose. Admittedly, I was a bit ornery at the start of our new living arrangements, but, over time, a new routine developed.

We have an invisible fence for our dog and each morning I slap her collar on her and send her out the door. I soon discovered that having to go outside with Banksy in the morning allowed me to appreciate the beauty of the morning sky – the rising sun, the crisp crunch of the snow underfoot. Each evening when we’d go out one last time, I’d stare up into the night sky and marvel at the beauty and the wonder that shone down from the heavens.

An inconvenience can sometimes bring about wonderful discoveries in ourselves and in the world around us. Our three weeks of dog-sitting prepared me for Lent –showing me how change of routine (being deprived of our creature comforts) can be energizing; it taught me to adapt with a happy heart and it opened my eyes to God’s beauty and splendour. There’s no need to dismally trudge through Lent – God’s gifts are everywhere, when we open our hearts to his graces.

Faith family Lent love

Keeping it Simple

When my husband and I were first married, I lovingly (and mistakenly) began the practice of bringing him coffee in bed each and every morning. It was a simple task, a small thing, but it meant a lot to him. It was easy. I smile now at the thought of how things…how life can begin simply enough and, over time, become more complicated. In those early days, when we were young and attractive, and love was new and easy, it was coffee, black – simple.

Over time, things change, we change – slowly, sometimes imperceptibly, but then you wake up one morning and a simple task you could once do in your sleep – coffee, black, changes to tea – carefully measured, steeped just so long, with this much sugar and a dash of milk. Life gets complicated. Do I ever complain? Sometimes. Would I stop performing this task? Never. Despite the changes over time, it is still done for the same reason – love. Sometimes I bring my husband’s tea, wake him gently, have a brief conversation, and then I go off for a run. It’s all good. But if I return an hour later and the tea is untouched, my husband is back in dreamland and he intends to travel with me to Owen Sound…well, that’s a different scenario entirely.

The beautiful thing about Lent is how it calls us to deeper prayer, increased alms-giving, with greater attention to others’ needs over our own; and a call to fast, to abstain. We set out on our Lenten journey with the best of intentions but sometimes life gets in the way and we are thrown off track. Our Lenten practice need not be complicated. We can begin in our very own homes, performing simple tasks with greater love and care. Fasting from angry words and quick tempered reactions. Little things like these spill over into our daily lives and beyond our homes. Sometimes we place heavy burdens on ourselves that we cannot keep up and rather than simplify the course of our Lenten journey – we give up. Never give up. Keep it simple. I’ve said it before – Jesus – Others – You. The proper perspective will bring you JOY through Lent!

Faith family God Lent love Mercy Prayer

And So We Begin

Are you ready? Our Lenten journey begins this Wednesday – Ash Wednesday – and how do you plan to traverse the desert that is these 40 days? I like to change things up every once in a while, ever since my husband laughed at me for giving up chocolate for the umpteenth time. I’m a chocoholic and I felt this was a tremendous penance, but really, to what gain? Did my abstaining from chocolate benefit anyone else? Sadly, no. In Isaiah 58.5-7, we read: Is this the manner of fasting I wish, of keeping a day of penance: That a man bow his head like a reed, and lie in sackcloth and ashes? Do you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own. There are so many fruitful ways to travel through Lent, we need only look around us for ways in which we can be helpful; giving, kind and loving.

Jesus says, Beware of practising your piety before people in order to be seen by them, for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. So I will not share my Lenten intentions, but I have become ever mindful that prayer, fasting and almsgiving must be for the benefit of others or there is not purpose to it. If we pray ceaselessly, if we fast from gossip and angry words and if we give to those around us who are in need we will be on the right path. Let’s take some time today to map out that path – just so we don’t get lost en route

Catholic Lent love

Journeying on through Lent

Post author By admin
Post date March 5, 2016
No Comments on Journeying on through Lent

I’m trying to love more. Don’t laugh…and don’t think it’s easy! When Jesus said, it’s easy to love our friends and family, but we must love our enemies too, therein lies the difficulty. Actually, it’s not always that easy to love the ones we love!

So, if we make this one of our Lenten disciplines, how do we begin? It seems a daunting task, but really it’s pretty straightforward – LOVE – that’s all we have to do…but whom and how? Begin with a simple smile. Just smiling at people will make them feel good and it will do wonders for your well-being too. Before my sister died, I told my husband I thought she was pushing herself… to sound happy…to sound well. ‘What’s wrong with that?’ he said, ‘Ultimately, she’ll convince her body of it too.’ And you know, there’s truth in that. She did convince her body, for a very long time. You can do it too. Even on an off day, if you smile enough, your body will give up and give in – you’ll actually begin to feel better.

When you’ve gotten the hang of smiling at people – add a kind word. It’s surprising how kind words are win/win. You can make such a difference in someone’s day by complimenting them. The change in their demeanor is instantaneous, and that feeling spills over and comes back to you.

Sometimes our love can be shown with silence, perhaps a hug. Helping someone through a tragic loss is difficult. Often we have no words. That’s ok, a warm embrace speaks volumes.

When we begin simply, it’s not an insurmountable task. Just one small act of kindness at a time can change the world…eventually. So let’s begin each day asking ourselves how we can make someone’s day a little brighter. By the time Easter arrives, we’ll have a true grasp of the numerous ways we can show our love for one another

Catholic Lent Social Awareness

Lenten Journey

Lenten Journey

Prayer, fasting and almsgiving can seem daunting to us as we begin our 40 days of Lent. And how does it feel right about now? Have you lost sight of your original intentions? Last year, a priest friend suggested we ‘give things up mindfully, not mindlessly.’ Those words continue to guide my Lenten journey and I’ve attempted to change things up a bit from my usual routine of ‘giving things up.’.

Prayer, for me, is the easy part. “Pray without ceasing,” St. Paul instructs us in 1 Thessalonians. Perhaps it is because I love solitude that I find this an easy practice. While driving my lengthy commute, walking, running even, I pray…rejoicing always and giving thanks. It is an enjoyable practice that can easily become a habit.

I read somewhere recently, that we must be careful of doing the right thing for the wrong reason. Fasting immediately came to mind. If I fast – is it to save money on food that can then be given to the local food bank, or am I depriving myself of food and secretly hoping to lose those pounds that have hung on since Christmas? There are numerous ways I can think of to fast, with no ulterior motive lurking in the shadows. We can fast from judging others; fast from anger, from complaining, and fast from thoughts of illness, trusting instead in the healing power of God.

Almsgiving is not necessarily a monetary thing. We all have too much stuff in our possession. We can purge those things we hoard, and give them to those who can make good use of them. I dropped in to Safe ‘N Sound recently – this is a local homelessness initiative – just to see what they’re all about. I was impressed with what I saw. They help the homeless, and those in danger of becoming homeless. They provide a comfortable spot to come in out of the cold, they provide a bit of lunch; a place to do laundry, take a shower and replace old and worn clothes with gently used clothing. There are computers available to search online for work and other resources, and overall the environment is warm and friendly. They are in constant need of towels, shampoo and conditioner, body wash, men’s and women’s deodorant. Gently used clothing, shoes and boots…it’s easy to help others by giving away those things we do not need; by doing without a few luxuries to purchase simple and much appreciated items of hygiene for those who can barely afford to feed themselves and their families.

Prayer, fasting and almsgiving can be accomplished in numerous ways. When we are mindful and grateful for the gifts we have been given, and when we are mindful of others’ needs and concerns, our Lenten journey will not be mindless drudgery, but fruitful and joy-filled.