Plans for Lent 2025

It's Ash Wednesday again, a day "of fasting and abstinence," as described in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2043. Fasting is eating much less food than you normally would; abstinence in this context is not eating meat. The point of this penance is not to punish yourself. It's to "acquire mastery over our instincts and freedom of heart." Rather than being led around by our appetites, we practice saying "no" to them so that we are free to focus on other, more important things. Eating food is important but not the most important thing in our lives. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are the two prescribed days for fast and abstinence in America, with the Fridays in Lent only requiring abstinence from meat. The obligation is not so great. Often, people add other days for themselves or make other sacrifices, the classical "giving up something for Lent." My plan for this year is a bit different. I realize that I don't drink enough water, or, more accurately, I will drink something else instead of water. I have a lot of hot tea throughout the day and would rather drink my glass of wine with dinner rather than a glass of water. To develop a better habit that will hopefully last beyond Easter Sunday, I am going to drink a glass of water before I can drink a serving of another beverage (be it tea, juice, beer, wine, etc.). It will be both healthier and a good discipline. I guess I am not so much giving something up as shifting my priorities.

The other traditional practices in Lent (in addition to fasting) are prayer and almsgiving. For prayer, I have joined a Bible draft league. Last Saturday, I met up with a bunch of other guys and we drafted sections of the Bible (either whole books or parts of longer books--Genesis is divided into five sections and the Gospel of Luke into six sections, for example). I have eight passages that I will read and then write a small reflection on, sharing it with the other guys from the draft. Collectively, we are reading the whole Bible. It will be a fruitful experience, I am sure.

For almsgiving, we will continue to buy something extra for the local food pantry when we shop for groceries. That's become such a regular habit now, I should probably take it off the list of things for Lent, since it's become a thing for all year. 

For spiritual reading, in addition to the Bible reading for the Bible draft, I will read Catherine of Siena's masterpiece The Dialogue. It's a bit daunting, especially with a lot of other reading going on too.