Tag Archives: almsgiving

What am I going to do for Lent?

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table

Lent begins  Ash Wednesday. What am I going to do for Lent? The supper table is a good place for asking that question , It represents life that’s closest to us here and now. Lent is about renewing ourselves as we are here and now. The people across the table where we live, or work or go to school with are a good start.

A scripture reading early on in Lent says: “Don’t turn your back on your own.”  Have we turned our backs on those closest to us? Let’s start with paying attention to them. Lent is a time for renewing ourselves where we are, in real life and real time, with those who are “our own.”.

The Ash Wednesday scriptures say: pray, fast and give alms. Let’s pray with the church during Lent. The scriptures for each day are a good place to start. Here’s where you can find the Lenten scriptures. www.usccb.org

See what’s going on in the churches nearby. Pray with others. We don’t pray with others enough.

Fasting takes many forms. Lent is a good time to fast from our own hard opinions of others. Too many people seem to be spoiling for a fight these days.

Can I give something to someone, maybe my time or attention. Can I give to some good cause?

Let’s keep before our eyes the terrible sufferings going on in our world today, but let’s see them in the light of the great mystery we celebrate: the death and resurrection of Jesus. Keep his Passion in mind. He gives us new hope.

Let’s not forget something else, though. What’s God does during Lent. That’s important. Lent is a time of God’s grace, an “acceptable time” when God pours out grace for us and the world we live in. The great sign of God’s limitless love is the Passion of his Son, a wondrous love beyond all others.

What am I going to do for Lent?

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Someone was asking that question at our supper table the other night. Lent begins  Ash Wednesday. The supper table is a good place to ask the question, because Lent is about renewing ourselves as we are and where we live. The supper table stands for life here and now.

The supper table is the place where we face those closest to us. Doing something for Lent has to mean doing something for them, first of all, the people across the table–or maybe those who have left our table. One of our scripture readings early on in Lent says: “Don’t turn your back on your own.”   Renewing our relationship with those closest  to us is one of the most important steps to renewing ourselves.

Besides the supper table, I guess we should also ask that question “What am I going to do for Lent?” in the place where I work, or where I go to school. Don’t turn your back on them either.

Lent is for renewing ourselves as we are, in real life and real time. It isn’t about changing us into different people or changing the world we live in or leaving for Mars.

The scriptures read on Ash Wednesday tell us to pray, to fast and give alms. What am I going to do for Lent? How about praying everyday? How about fasting from my own hard opinions of others? How about thinking about others and not just myself?

What am I going to do for Lent? I hope I can get closer to God, and that means for me to get closer to Jesus Christ. He says in this Sunday’s gospel that it’s possible to think we know him, but don’t know him. Where should I begin? Let me look in the scriptures, especially the scriptures we read during Lent.

Pope Benedict’s “Jesus of Nazareth” part 2 where he looks long and hard at the story of the Passion of Jesus is due out this week. I’m going to read it. Maybe that will help.

One thing we shouldn’t forget when we ask that question “What am I going to do for Lent?” is  another question: “What is God going to do for us during Lent?” It’s a time of God’s grace, more than we can hope for, beyond what we could possibly earn. The great sign of God’s limitless giving is the Passion of his Son, a wondrous gift.