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. 

Book Review: The Power of the Cross by Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa

The Power of the Cross by Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa

Raniero Cantalamessa has been the Preacher to the Papal Household since 1980. He's still doing the job (at 88 years old in 2023!), which certainly seems like both a high honor and a special burden. This book collects all of his Good Friday sermons from 1980 to 2022, forty-three in all, making it a fitting devotional during the forty days of Lent (which is what I did in 2023).

One would think that sermons based on one event in Sacred Scripture would become repetitive and dull after forty years, especially when they are all brought together at one time. The one event here, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, is not just any event. It is the central event in salvation history. Cantalamessa finds many different themes and perspectives, looking from the gaze of people at the crucifixion and from the various gazes through history, even to our own time. He connects contemporary events like Covid-19, The DaVinci Code, the Jubilee Year, etc., to this ancient event, showing how much God loves us and the ways we appreciate it and fail to appreciate it. He talks in some sermons about Pilate, the apostles, the women of Jerusalem, and Mary, the mother of Jesus. His writing is rich and insightful. The most touching moment for me is his description of the centurion's reaction to Jesus's death cry on the cross. The centurion recognized it for what it was because he had heard it on the battlefield before--the battle cry of victory! 

There are so many great insights throughout the book, I found it very inspiring. Each sermon is fewer than ten pages, so they are easy to read as a short devotionals. This book will surely be regular reading for me in future Lents.

Highly recommended.

Sample quote from Cardinal Cantalamessa's Good Friday sermon in 1994: 

If from the outside, you look at the stained-glass windows of an old cathedral, you will only see pieces of dark glass held together by strips of black lead. But if you enter in and view it from inside, against the light, you will see a breathtaking spectacle of colors and shapes. It is the same with the Church. Whoever sees it from the outside, with the eyes of the world, will only see its dark and gloomy side. But from the inside, with the eyes of faith and a sense of belonging, you will see what St. Paul saw, a wonderful building in whom the whole structure is joined together, a spotless spouse, a great mystery!

And another from the 2009 sermon:

Christ did not come to increase human suffering or to preach resignation to suffering. He came to give meaning to suffering and to proclaim its end and defeat. The slogan on public display in London and other cities is in full view of parents of sick children, the lonely, the unemployed, refugees from war zones, people who have suffered grave injustices in their life. I try to imagine their reaction to reading the words [of the slogan]: "There's probably no god. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life!" Really, and how? Suffering is a mystery for everyone, especially the suffering of the innocent, but without faith in God, suffering becomes overwhelmingly absurd. Even one's last hope of relief is taken away. Atheism is a luxury that only those who lead privileged lives can afford, those who have everything at their disposal, including the time and possibility to dedicate themselves to study and research.

Plans for Lent 2022

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. So 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 my tradition giving up of graphic novel reading, though I do have quite a backlog so it probably won't be obvious to blog readers. In fact, I am giving up written fiction in general, so no novels. I may still listen to audiobooks and short stories from the various podcasts in my subscriptions but I won't just substitute audiobooks for written books. I do read the Sunday comics (Brewster Rockit is my current favorite) but Sundays are exceptions to the penitential times.

The other traditional practices in Lent (in addition to fasting) are prayer and almsgiving. For prayer, I will be reading Praying in the Presence of Our Lord with St. Thomas Aquinas by Mike Aquilina. He's taken five poems by St. Thomas and presented them in Latin (the original language) with an English translation. Then Aquilina has written seven meditations or reflections for each poem. My plan is to read the poem and one meditation a day. With forty days of Lent, I'll come up five short, so I may restart or find something else (maybe Benedict XVI's Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week).

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. My wife and I have been talking about focusing on one charity for extra giving (beyond our parish, since charity begins at home). We'll do some research and get that sorted this Lent.

For spiritual reading, I am working my way through The Word On Fire Bible: The Gospels. I will also read Things Worth Dying For by Charles Chaput, retired archbishop of Philadelphia, and some other volumes as time and inspiration allows.

Lenten Beer Fasting

Ever since I visited the ruins of a monastery in England I've been interested in a crazy idea. One area of the ruins was the ale house. Back in the middle ages, people processed drinking water for safety's sake. They didn't know about germs and bacteria, but they certainly knew their effects. The purification process was brewing, turning potentially dangerous water into low-alcohol beer (because it was made for drinking, not for partying). The sign at the monastery's ale house said that some monks even brewed special beers for the Lenten season, the forty days (minus Sundays) from Ash Wednesday to Easter. The monks wanted to drink just the beer, not eat any food. They especially brewed the beer for calories and nutrient, basically making liquid bread.

With further research I discovered that monks at the Saint Francis of Paula monastery at Munich were the first to ask papal permission to brew a strong beer for the Lenten fast. In honor of the holy father, they called the brew Sankt Vaterbier (or Holy Father Beer), later shortened to Salvatorbier. The recipe was based on the popular Bavarian bock beers and it became known as doppelbock, or double bock. The beer was popular enough that they started selling it outside the monastery. In 1799 the monastery closed but enterprising brewers took over the property and the recipe.

The beer has undergone some changes but is still available from Paulaner Brewery as Salvator (check their website!). A 100ml serving provides 4.5 grams of carbs and 1 gram of protein! They don't list any vitamins or minerals, but who drinks beer for its nutritional value these days?

Salvator (7.9% alcohol by volume) has a nice, coppery color that goes along with the smooth, creamy texture of this beer. There's a slightly nutty flavor with hints of bitterness. It tastes great and is satisfying.

Any popular beer is bound to have its imitators, so plenty of other breweries have gotten into the doppelbock business. They even mimic the "-ator" ending of Salvator, presumably to get some brand recognition or positive vibes from the association with the Paulaner brew.

Spaten Optimator (7.6% alcohol by volume) is darker in color--it only looks coppery with a light behind it. The flavor is malty with a notable bitterness at the end. It does not seem like it would be liquid bread! I was less impressed with this.

Troegenator Double Bock (8.2% alcohol by volume) is an "-ator" with an American translation of doppelbock. Troegs Independent Brewing is out of Pennsylvania and is creative enough that they've been on The War of Christmas Novelty Ales in 2014 and 2018. The dark copper color of Troegenator is an indication of its richness. It's got chocolate and caramel flavors along with a delightful hint of gingerbread. The flavor is enough to carry a drinker through Lent or even through a whole winter season. I liked this a lot on its own. 

Celebrator (6.7% alcohol by volume) is the blackest of the brews in this set. The texture is smooth and silky. The flavor is lightly smoky (just barely) and caramel (a bit more). I don't really taste much bread flavor, but the flavor it does have is very delightful. I could drink a lot of this. 

The fun thing about the beer is that each one comes with a little goat figure!

They got my goat, or I got theirs?

Why the goat? Bock in German is the word for ram, hence another common thing to see on the labels--a goat image (or two, if you want to emphasize the double). That Troegenator guy on the label has goat horns in his head!

Aecht Schlenkerla Eiche (8.0% alcohol by volume) is called a doppelbock but it has a more characteristic element. As the label says, it has "Schlenkerla Oak Smoke." The malt used in the brewing process is smoked in a kiln that burns oak wood. The resulting flavor is definitely smoky (think a lapsang souchong tea) and Schlenkerla is known for its rauchbier or smoke beer. This beer has a dark amber color and a smooth feel. The smoky taste gives it a lot of character, making a tricky blend with the doppelbock elements. It's not particularly bread-flavored. This beer, while delightful, probably belongs in another category. 

I am not the only one interested in spending a Lent drinking nothing but nutritional beer. A journalist in Iowa named J. Wilson tried out a home brew doppelbock for a Lenten fast. He blogged about it at Diary of a Part-Time Monk, which has subsequently been turned into a book. I read the book and found it interesting but a little underwhelming. In addition to taking on the challenge of fasting on only beer and water for forty-six days (he didn't take Sundays off as often practiced by Christians), he wanted to explore the spirituality of it. He enlisted a Protestant minister as a spiritual advisor and spent a few days at a Catholic monastery doing research and experiencing monastic life. Half-way through, he decided to read the Psalms, figuring four a day would get him finished by the end of Lent. He struggled a lot with finding time to read. He found the psalms repetitive and boring. In the afterword he explains that he's become an agnostic. He recognizes himself as a work-in-progress and hopes that he will make progress on the spiritual front. Sometimes that's the best one can do.

Read more about the German Lenten beer fast at https://www.ucatholic.com/blog/the-lenten-beer-only-fast-practiced-by-german-monks/

Lent Plans 2021

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. So 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 my tradition giving up of graphic novel reading, though I do have quite a backlog so it probably won't be obvious to blog readers. I'm also going to give up my evening alcoholic drink. Usually I have a beer or something else after the kids go to bed.

The other traditional practices in Lent (in addition to fasting) are prayer and almsgiving. For prayer, I am using the daily meditation book called A Year with the Angels. We will start up morning devotion at home with the children. We take five minutes in the morning to sing a hymn, read a little meditation or passage from the Bible. Maybe we'll light a candle too, since that's fun for the kids.

For almsgiving, we will continue to buy something extra for the local food pantry when we shop for groceries. And the money I save on alcohol will go to charity, too.

For spiritual reading, I am going to read To Know Christ Jesus by Frank Sheed and The Resurrection of the Shroud: New Scientific, Medical and Archeological Evidence by Mark Antonacci. Also, our church is sponsoring a challenge to read the whole New Testament in Lent, calling it the Saint Jerome Challenge. 

We don't have any really big family plans this year for Lent other than morning devotion.

Plans for Lent 2020

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. So 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..... I will do my usual fast from graphic novels (though, also as usual, I have enough backlog of blog posts to last until Easter).

The other traditional practice in Lent (in addition to fasting) are prayer and almsgiving. For prayer, I will pray the rosary daily. It's a beautiful prayer that I haven't done in far too long. The archdiocese sent us a little black book with daily meditations for Lent. I'll read that too.

For almsgiving, we will continue to buy something extra for the local food pantry when we shop for groceries.

For spiritual reading, I will start Friar Thomas D'Aquino: His Life, Thought and Works by James A. Weisheipl, O.P. The book is fairly big--405 pages of text and another 82 of notes, bibliography, and index. Ten pages a day will make it easy to finish during the forty days of Lent. If I finish early, I'll probably read something shorter. Maybe I'll reread Thomas More's The Sadness of Christ, a book of reflections on the passion of Christ.

We don't have any really big plans this year for Lent, just some simple stuff to keep us going down the right road.

Book Review: Lent by Jo Walton

Lent by Jo Walton

Dominican Girolamo Savonarola lives in late 15th century Florence. He has the gift to see demons who haunt places and the even greater gift to drive them out. He's also a powerful preacher who inspires the Florentine people to live holier lives. He's successful in the spiritual life. He also sees the future and has influence over political situations. He averts a sack of Florence by Charles VIII of France and becomes a key player in the local government. He works hard to make Florence into another Ark like Noah's, saving the people inside from the corruption outside. He wants to save souls but his biggest challenge is saving his own. He is plagued by pride, though he is soon to discover a much bigger problem with saving his soul.

That discovery is surprising and intriguing. I don't want to spoil it for those who don't know because it is a very unexpected twist in the narrative. The story deals with some fascinating issues as Girolamo tries repeatedly to save Florence and himself. Free will, prayer for others, political expediency, and care for others all come into play as the story progresses. The twist is, theologically, new territory and a little too incredible. If a reader can accept the twist in its strangeness (this is a work of fiction, after all), the story plays out really well. The ending is not surprising but the trip there is fascinating and rewarding.

The book is quite interesting and makes good fodder for discussion. It's coming to A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast at the end of July 2019.

Highly recommended.

Book Review: Sermons for Lent by Francis de Sales

The Sermons of St. Francis de Sales for Lent Given in 1622 by Francis de Sales

This series of twelve sermons was preached by Saint Francis de Sales to the Visitation nuns in 1622. He gives them pastoral care and spiritual guidance that is both specific to them and of interest and value to Christians of every vocation, in any time.

Part of the value is his rhetorical skills. He typically focuses on one big topic, like faith or fasting, and narrows down to specific topics, often sets of three subtopics. He is well versed in Scriptures, in the classics, and the church fathers, drawing examples from each as suits his need. His language is clear and direct; his arguments are easy to follow. He is a fine writer.

The greatest value is his spiritual insights and advice. For example, he expands the idea of fasting beyond food to disciplining all the appetites including the senses' appetites and the intellect's appetite. He considers the pitfall of fasting to impress others or to (ironically enough) feed one's own ego. In another sermon he describes the proper way to be ill when he discusses the story of Jesus curing Peter's mother-in-law. Francis digs into the details of the story, pulling out great insights. She doesn't complain about her illness (which must be pretty bad if she is bedridden) and doesn't ask for a cure even though Jesus is in the house. She humbly accepts the burden and gratefully serves her guests when Jesus restores her to health.

The sermons cover a wide range of topics, from faith to fasting to charity to divine providence. His words give practical advice on how to listen to the Word of God and how to fear death in the proper way. The final sermon is from Good Friday and looks at Jesus on the cross. The faithful need to keep their eyes on the cross just as the Israelites kept their eyes on the brass serpent in Exodus in order to be saved from spiritual death. Francis goes through the seven last words of Jesus on the cross, providing thoughtful insights on each.

Each sermon is easy to read and takes less than twenty minutes, though they certainly give meditative insights that last much longer. This book may enter my regular Lenten reading. It is valuable in or out of the Lenten season.

Highly recommended.

Lent Plans 2018

Ash Wednesday is upon us again. In my son's religious education class, the teachers went over the precepts of the Church. The fifth precept is to "observe the prescribed days of fasting and abstinence." (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. So the obligation is not so great. Often, people add other days for themselves or make other sacrifices, the classical "giving up something for Lent." As a family we have decided to give up dessert at dinner.

The other traditional practice in Lent (in addition to fasting) are prayer and almsgiving. For prayer, I bought Seeking Jesus in Everyday Life which has daily readings and reflections. My son, as part of his Scout's Duty to God badge, has been saying a decade of the rosary every night, in addition to our regular family evening prayers. I will keep up that tradition at least through Lent, hopefully for the foreseeable future.

For almsgiving, we will continue to buy something extra for the local food pantry when we shop for groceries. Usually we buy one extra thing--for Lent we'll buy two. The Cardinal's Annual appeal just happened at church. We've made a big donation there.

I was thinking of reading Kristin Lavransdatter as spiritual reading for Lent, but after finishing Seven Pillars of Wisdom, I am not ready for another weighty tome. I'll read some shorter inspirational books. And I will do my usual fast from graphic novels (though, also as usual, I have enough backlog of blog posts to last till Easter).

We don't have any really big plans this year for Lent, just some simple stuff to keep us going down the right road.

Lenten Plans 2017

You know Lent is coming when the fast food stores start advertising their fish sandwich...

Cod, because you love God

The Catholic tradition isn't so much we eat fish on Fridays in Lent but that we don't eat meat as a small sacrifice united with that great sacrifice Christ made on Good Friday. The other traditional Lenten practices are prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

For prayer, this Lent I will use A Year with the Church Fathers by Mike Aquilina. It has a daily excerpt from one of the Church Fathers with a reflection question and concluding prayer. The book has been on my shelf for a while and has been begging for a start. We still do a morning devotion and night prayers with the children. Sometimes I skip the night prayer because of other activities, something I will try to not do for Lent.

For fasting, I am continuing the tradition I picked up from SciFiCatholic (who now blogs at deusexmagicalgirl.com) of fasting from fiction (written fiction, that is). Of course, it won't look like I have because of a big backlog of graphic novel reviews that are sprinkled throughout Lent, but trust me, I read them all in January and February. I plan on reading English Catholic Heroes, Fearless: Stories of American Saints, and Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week by Pope Benedict XVI.

I'm also giving up beer for Lent. The money I save will go toward buying groceries to donate to a local food bank, which naturally segues into almsgiving!

For almsgiving, in addition to the additional support for the food bank, we have a list of requests from the children's religious education classes for donations to local charities. We will do that as well.

I hope you have a good Lent if you're observing it.

Plans for Lent 2015

Ash Wednesday is this coming Wednesday as I post. Since I've been out of new churches to blog about for a while, I thought I'd write about my plans for Lent this Sunday. In preparation for Easter, the Church recommends certain activities during Lent: Praying, Fasting, and Almsgiving. I've thrown in a little bonus too!

Praying

I don't have set times for personal prayer which needs to change. I typically get up later than everyone else in the morning, around 6:45 of 7 a.m. (which may not sound late to some people). I will get up 15 or 20 minutes earlier to pray the morning prayer from the Divine Office. Before I go to bed, I will say the night prayer.

Fasting

Fasting typically means abstaining from eating fully during the day. The church requires a strict fast (one regular meal and two smaller non-meals) on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, which is pretty minimal. Most people give up some favorite food or drink every day in Lent as a sacrifice. I recently had a physical and the results were good except that my bad cholesterol is high. It's tempting to give up eggs or cheese for Lent but that will probably cause more suffering for the rest of my family, which is a bit bogus. I've decided to go with strict fasting on every Friday in Lent. Oh, and there's this other fasting which falls under the category of...

Lenten Reading

SciFi Catholic has recently rebooted his blog. One of his old traditions was to fast from fiction during Lent and he'd have a classic non-fiction book recommended as a read-a-long for Lent. This year it's Marcus Aurelius's Meditations and, as a bonus, The Call to Joy by Matthew Kelly (recommended by his parish priest). I like the idea of fasting from fiction but it is clearly impossible for me since I read to the kids all the time. I plan to fast from fiction for my personal reading, which won't be hard for regular books. It will be hard for graphic novels but some digging through the county library's on-line catalog has turned up a handful of non-fiction graphic novels, including some books of the Bible. And I'll read the Meditations but probably not Call to Joy.

If you aren't hard core enough to give up fiction, Julie at Happy Catholic has an excellent list of thought provoking and spiritually valuable novels. She also has a list of non-fiction for Lenten reading.

Almsgiving

We haven't worked this out ahead of time but will be giving money to charities for the poor. And we will finally sign up for direct debit with our parish so we don't have to scramble on Sunday mornings during the collection (though we certainly will still give the children some cash to put in, just as a good example and as it's fun for them).

The other big change starting in Lent is I've decided to stop reposting old blogs of churches on Sundays. The European backlog of churches finished up a couple of weeks ago and we haven't been visiting as many new places here in America. We still will visit churches and I will post about them. But there will be Sundays with no posts (though I may post a review of a spiritual book or movie on Sundays, we shall see).

Movie Review: The Wizard of Heaven (1949)

The Wizard of Heaven (1949) directed by Marcel Blistene

Part of my Lenten movie viewing that started with Becket last week.

The Wizard of Heaven tells the story of St. John Vianney, a famous French priest from the 1800s known as the Cure of Ars. At the beginning of the film, he is traveling to Ars, a small provincial town that is weak in its Christian faith. Few are the locals who go to Mass on Sunday. As he arrives, a wedding feast is going on outdoors. Some of the locals are excited to help him but most are indifferent or mistrustful. Vianney sets about his work in a humble yet forceful way. He begins to win people back to the faith even as he is tempted by the devil (a shadow that follows him around with a voice that constantly taunts him or argues with him). Vianney has the gift of reading souls--he can see what is truly troubling a person and can get them on the right way. His faith, preaching, and example win over the town. Eventually his reputation spreads and the town of Ars draws visitors from all over Europe, mostly pilgrims seeking to confess to a great confessor. The movie gives a good sense of the saint's character. That's the good news.
 
The bad news about the video is the quality. The sound is muffled and the image is fuzzy. It looks like a transfer from an old VHS tape, which makes it difficult to watch. The subtitles (the movie is in French) have been updated and are clear to read. Another difficulty is the addition of introductory and concluding English voice-overs to fill in the rest of John Vianney's story, which are a bit unnecessary and make the movie feel more like a pedagogical tool than a work of art. The movie ends with the saint's death, which would be fine, but a whole speech is tacked on about his canonization and becoming the patron saint of parish priests. The information is nice to know and surely the addition is motivated by piety, but it comes across stiff and preachy. The DVD includes plenty of special features describing Vianney's life and even providing quotes from his writings and sermons.

Starting Lent 2012

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Lent is the liturgical season in the Catholic Church (also observed in other Christian Churches) in preparation for Easter. Typically, people prepare through three activities: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

Prayer is fairly obvious. For this Lent, I will be praying Morning and Evening Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours (also known as the Divine Office). I have prayed the hours on and off for many, many years. Starting again is a little daunting, mostly because finding time will be challenging. I'll be getting up earlier for the morning prayers, so that is covered. Fitting evening prayers into the routine will be tougher. I plan to say them during bath time; failing that (e.g. on the rare occasions that I give the baths), I will say them after the children go to bed.

Fasting is typically refraining from eating the usual amount of food, though I have heard people who fast from reading fiction or from television or from Internet. This category is where the typical "I gave up X for Lent" would fall. I'm going to fast on Fridays (the food sort of fasting) and not have snacks after dinner for the rest of the week (a habit I indulge in far too often).

The final preparation is almsgiving, which is a quaint way of saying, "Giving to the poor." We've made a sort of piggy bank that the kids will put money in each night for the poor. Also, we will start giving to church more robustly. Back in America, we used direct withdrawal for donating to our local parish but haven't set that up here, mostly because we don't have a British bank account. The children have pretty steadily put coins in the collection; we should be doing more.

Another thing for Lent is reading. I'm still working my way through books on the Psalms (just finished C. S. Lewis's book, review coming soon) and I plan to re-read Thomas More's The Sadness of Christ. I have some more of Benedict XVI's Wednesday teachings on the Doctors of the Church and the Great Teachers. I may have more reading than time to read, which is my unending problem.

I'll also do some more spiritual viewing. Thanks to Just a Catholic Dad, I know about a miniseries on Catholicism that the BBC is showing this Lent. I'll watch that. Since we're here in the UK, I'll revisit A Man for All Seasons (more Thomas More!) and Becket. If you want better recommendations, check out Steven Greydanus's list at Decent Films Guide. A few of those are in my collection and I hope to revisit them as well.

It will be a busy Lent in our home, hopefully a joyous one!

Whose Side Are You On?

Jacob's ashes hidden by his hair

Today is Ash Wednesday, a day for Catholics to abstain from eating meat and to fast. Fasting means having at most one full meal and two other smaller meals which would not equal the quantity of the full meal. Also, no snacking in between meals is allowed. The call to fasting applies to Catholics from 18 years of age to 59. So Jacob and Lucy are exempt and had their regular meals and snacks today.

For me it was no big deal until the morning snack. Jacob had a big blueberry muffin that he couldn't finish. He said, "Daddy, you finish my muffin." This sort of offer is pretty rare; I would have loved to take him up on it. But I couldn't because I was fasting. I politely said no. Jacob insisted. I tried explaining fasting. Jacob didn't seem to understand.

I had confirmation of his lack of understanding during his afternoon snack. He had some graham crackers with apple juice. Again, he didn't finish his crackers and offered me his leftovers. I was sorely tempted but I resisted. I tried explaining again. He kept insisting until he was distracted with the thought of drumming.

Just whose side is Jacob on, anyway? I hope you have fewer tempters in your house than I have in mine!