Lent

Ash Wednesday has always been my favorite celebration with in the Catholic Church.  It marks the first day of Lent, which is a 40 day period of preparation for Easter Sunday.  It is marked with fasting, prayer, and abstinence. 

As a child, I was always humbled on Ash Wednesday.  Each time I would receive ashes, the priest’s words would stay in my mind for days and even months.  "Remember that thou are dust, and to dust thou shalt return."  I would take everything so literally as a child.  I was very passionate about the rules.   I remember asking my parents about death and how it “worked”.  Did we all really die?  Did we all turn into THE actual ashes that were on my forehead? 

Well, as the years went by, I learned to understand that something’s were just symbols and rituals.  But I also learned, and always focused on, the truth that we are only on this earth for a finite amount of time.  Regardless of class, wealth, skin color, or education, one thing is certain, we are mortals and our time on earth is borrowed.  This truth was reaffirmed when I became a parent, truly realizing just how precious life is. 

So every Lent I find myself pondering these thoughts and questions.  Each lent, I ask myself how can I be a better person during this life, how can I know I lived my life to the fullest?  I guess you never really know.  Regardless though, like many Catholics,  I give something up each and every Lent as a form of abstinence.  As a child it was normally candy or sweets, as and adult, it has ranged from meat, alcohol, eating out, and even caffeine (although that year I did not make it). 

I am going to change my focus this year.  Instead of giving up, I am going to try and give.  Each day I am going to give or do a little something extra for someone else.  Not necessarily purchasing something or a grandeur gesture, but rather just a simple gesture to help someone or something else out.  It might be volunteering extra hours, or taking my neighbors trash in before they get home, or visiting my elder neighbor so Logan and Catherine can make him laugh as they stomp through his garden.  (I do wonder though if he actually enjoys our visits as my kids do sprint through his flowers before I can catch them.)

In summary, I am going to focus on giving vs. giving up.  Brian plans to give up all fried foods, which is indeed a challenge given his love for fried seafood po’boys on Fridays in Lent.

Side Note: My very first time alone with Brian was on Ash Wednesday in New Orleans.  We walked from the Entergy Building to Jesuit on Barrone to get ashes.  Other coworkers were going to join but bailed at the last minute. I remember thinking this guy is super nice, very polite, and good looking as well.  Three years later we were married.