The Lenten Struggle

We all deal with the Lenten Struggles - the fasting, the giving up, the extra little penances we assign ourselves, etc. Sometimes it includes the crazy looks or ridicule you get from someone because you actually DO something for Lent.

Me? Oh, I went all out this year. So much so that my wife asked if I was feeling alright, and my father called me back and said "Okay, now you'll have to explain to me what led you to this decision." My sons wonder if Dad's train has gone around the bend for the last time. A co-worker laughed and then stopped himself and said "Wait - you're serious?"

I gave up - wait for it - watching my beloved Washington Capitals hockey team. Now, some people might say "Big deal", but you have to understand that, in many cases, weekend chores, errands and family dinners out during the week are scheduled around Capitals games.

My thinking went like this - of all the things I like, what would be the hardest thing to go cold turkey on? Yep, watching the Capitals. Especially considering the fact that the playoffs start LOOONG before Lent is over, so I'll be missing quite a few playoff games. When the playoffs are on, nobody in the family better be kicking the bucket, or getting married, or scheduling a funeral, because a man has to have priorities.

So yes, maybe in the grand scale of things, it ain't much, but like the little drummer boy, I do what I can.

Here's to a fulfilling Lenten season!

While the crickets chirp away...

The Curt Jester had a post on New Year's Day about which Holy Day of Obligation is the most neglected, which led to some interesting discussions in the ComBox.
http://www.splendoroftruth.com/curtjester/archives/2009/01/feast-with-the.php

This cartoon was sparked recently when I heard a priest lament that only 37 people showed up for the Advent Penance Service. On a regular Sunday, I think we get upwards of 1000-1500 people for our 2 masses. I may be overshooting it a bit. So the 37 number was pretty sorry.

But in my 10 years back, I can count on one hand when I've heard a priest specifically mention something being a sin. And I think I can further count on this one hand while one finger is stuck in my ear. Abortion? Once. Birth Control? Once. Homosexuality? Once. The Big Three in our culture today, and I've heard them specifically mentioned probably just once each. And that's misleading, because the abortion and birth control issues were raised in one homily - by a transitional deacon, no less. (As a side note, I ran into this deacon the following week and told him that he hit a home run with his homily - he actually had tears in his eyes. My guess, and it's only a guess, is that he was probably upbraided for being so bold.)

If, in today's Church, practically NOTHING is a sin, then what exactly would need to be confessed? God loves everyone, He's never mad about what we do, and everything "bad" we do can be reasoned away with buckets full of Oprah & Dr. Phil psychological babble.