This weekend, I’m going on a the-day retreat. I’m looking forward to being energized and rejuvenated, and I’ve been thinking of my recent retreats and how to use my time this Lent to keep that energy flowing.
Tell us about the last experience you had that left you feeling fresh, energized, and rejuvenated. What was it that had such a positive effect on you?
Led by the spirit of our G-d, we go to fast and pray
With Christ into the wilderness; we join his paschal way.
“Rend not your garments, rend your hearts.
Turn back your lives to me.”*
This was our closing hymn on this first Sunday of Lent. As soon as those words came from my lips, I was reminded that Lent is not a solitary disposition.
As we fast and pray throughout the rest of these forty days, Christ is with us as He is always with us.
It is not solitary, but it is also not public. No need to make a show of our sacrifices, our abstentions, to announce our Lenten deeds by rending our garments for the world to see. Instead keep Lent where it is supposed to be: in our hearts where G-d can always see our underlying intentions.
* adaptation by Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1872-1958
In today’s reflection from Give Us This Day, Fr. Paul Boudreau wrote,
“The love of Jesus makes water into wine, traitors into apostles, and is given to us in order to transform the world, starting with ourselves and the people we encounter today.”
Transformation can be a somewhat daunting prospect when looked at as the big picture of our lives; as a journey’s end rather than the journey itself. However, as we teach kids to walk beginning with baby steps, we can see that transformation is best achieved with baby steps.
Little by little, through Jesus’ love and our self-awareness, we can follow our transformation, and reflect on it quietly and thoughtfully in small increments that we each find doable.
I’ve been very lucky that G-d led me to the parish I’m in. When I began attending Mass, the parish priest was in Rome. When he returned, I was hesitant; he wasn’t who I was used to, but it didn’t take long for me to love his way of expressing things. He spoke to me, seemingly out of the blue, but clearly with G-d’s hand on his choices, ones that would stand out to my ears.
One of those apparently innocuous statements was at the end of my first summer.
As we journey, we do our best.
It was simple. Straightforward. Easy to remember and easy to follow; a new mantra for me to take on my new journey.
As we journey, we do our best.
Lent is one of those times of the year that we try to do our best. We give something up, we take something in. We attend Mass more faithfully.
I’ve been struggling with what to give up, but in remembering that Lent is between me and G-d, I’ve decided to keep it to myself for now, maybe for the entirety of the forty days.
Sometimes it’s easier to do my best without eyes looking over my shoulder for if and when I falter.
The story of Lydia in Acts “…shows that conversion is not just a one-time event but a lifelong process.”
I read this in the May 26th meditation from The Word Among Us, and coming then so close to my sacraments in joining the Catholic Church it really stood out to me. For me personally, I had been attending daily Mass for over two years before my baptism. Without the holy water, I still felt a member of the church and my fellow parishioners treated me that way as well. I was welcomed as one of them from the very beginning; no strings attached.
Now, as my first full year as a Catholic comes to a close, it is less a closing than it is an opening into my lifelong conversion. There are still so many things to learn and to discern that one lifetime may not be enough.
I think of Christ every day and throughout the day, whether I go to a Mass or not. He is in my heart and in my life, and I have no doubts that He always will be.
My conversion will never be complete, and knowing that lets me know that there is always something else to strive for; whether it be continued enlightenment and spiritual desires or a deeper understanding of Jesus’ and Christianity’s history and my ongoing commitment to become a better person, more compassionate, more kind, more giving, not to please anyone else but in being the me I venture to be.
Lent comes providentially to reawaken us, to shake us from our lethargy
.– Pope Francis
You can do more than pray after you have prayed; but you can never do more than pray until you have prayed.
— A.J. Gordon
Remember that lent and ash Wednesday is not just about putting away the bad things. It is about creating good things and helping the poor and the needy, being kind to people and much more.
— Jacob Winters
It is not just about giving up our favorite food but its about going further and giving up things like hatred and unforgiveness. You need to clean your heart and prepare yourself for purity.
— Amanda Jobs
For 36 more quotes about Lent, and for the source of these for, go here.
Just a quick word of advice and one that I don’t always think of.
I spent this morning helping to fill Christmas food baskets with my church’s St. Vincent de Paul Society. I am one of the people who benefits directly from this group, and I wanted to give back something.
I was in charge of cake mixes and corn bread.
I almost never check expiration dates. Not at the grocery store, not in my own pantry. I assume it’s good, and if it’s slightly outdated it’s still not bad. I mean, I tell my husband all the time that you could use the cans fro WWII. He does not agree. However, if something expired nine months ago, it’s fine.
It really is.
However….
when you’re donating food to a food pantry or church, clearing out your unwanteds is a win-win for everyone, but please, please check the expiration dates.
A group like this can’t give out expired food.
For one thing, many people receiving the basket from the food pantry probably won’t check the dates. (I wouldn’t.)
I threw out about ten or so boxes of food because of the dates. Most had expired in 2012/2013, but I had two older than that – one from 2008 and one from 2004.
There are many ways to donate. One is buy a couple of extra boxes/cans on sale when you’re doing your regular grocery shopping. Another is donating money. Most of us can’t afford to give away a lot, but every dollar adds up, and if you put it in an envelope and mark it for the food pantry, it really is appreciated. (In our case, families with children get three $15 gift cards to the local supermarket chain. Some families this year received a coupon for a free 14 pound turkey from another chain.
Our group had 125 families from three churches receiving food and Christmas gifts. They made three extra food baskets for surprise walk-ins. Any leftover food goes down to the city’s food pantry. Then they start collecting again.
More and more this is a need that people request all throughout the year, not just at the holidays, so it’s never too early or too late to donate as long as the expiration dates are far enough in the future.
Before we started, we are reminded of why we’re there: as Christians, we are called to act as Christ would, and helping the poor is at the top of that list. We then start our morning off with the Lord’s Prayer
Today is the feast day, celebrating the solemn belief by Catholics in the immaculate conception of Mary, mother of G-d and mother of the Church.
My home parish is one of many in the US whose patroness is the Blessed Mother, specifically honoring the immaculate conception by taking on the name. (*)
Today is also the tenth anniversary of my own mother’s death.
She was 61 when she died. Despite her health problems, it was still a shock when I received the phone call. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of her or miss her. I still pick up the phone to call her and it is awful to remember that she won’t be at the other end of the line.
(*) I have no idea how churches choose their patrons or names.
If anyone is looking for a prompt today: Mothers
http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/12/living/confessions-catholic-priest/?c=&page=0
Father James Martin talking about his love of his vocation. Many of what he says are things I’ve felt and continue to feel on my Catholic journey.
“…shows that conversion is not just a one-time event but a lifelong process.”
-The Word Among Us, May 26, 2014 issue
When I began my religious studies to become a Roman Catholic, I expected to get the basics, ask some questions, go through with the required rituals and sacraments and then I’d be Catholic.
And while, yes, that is the basic, no-frills description of any person’s conversion, reading this quotation in May really reaffirmed what I had been thinking already for a long time: conversion is not an overnight event. There isn’t a test you have to pass.
There is a period after the Easter sacraments, a mystogogical period to delve further into the mysteries of the Holy Spirit and the Sacraments. I may have been told that this concludes after Pentecost, but I seem to think that I’ve also been told that it continues for a year after joining the Church.
Whichever it is, I feel like I learn something new every day. Whether it’s a new Scripture that I’ve never heard before or am less familiar with than the more ‘popular’ ones; whether it’s a new (to me) day on the calendar, a saint’s day of someone I want to explore further or discovering something deep within myself that I want to reflect on. It is literally an everyday occurrence that either brings a question to be answered or a reflection to be meditated on.
Coming from a Jewish background, I feel as though this conversion is more of a transition. Just as the New Testament is the second part of the Bible for Christians, I feel that my Catholic faith is a second chapter with my Jewish life as the first and the third chapter is written as I move forward spiritually.
For me it’s a never-ending progression as I gather more information and history of Jesus in his time and through his teachings that can only lead to discover knew interpretations for my spirituality to grow deeper and more entwined and woven through my soul.
This wasn’t just a life-long commitment to Jesus; it was a life-long process of learning who I am through Jesus.
Griffins and Ginger Snaps 