Lent is just a week away!

CC Photo: LarimdaME

Are you ready for Lent 2008? If you are like me you have thought about it but have not decided how this Lent will be something special. We have a week left, perhaps we should prepare ourselves??? (FYI Masses here at St. Matthew are 9am and 7pm) So what are you going to do? How are you going to use it as a time to change? Will sacrifice be too much? Will doing more not help? What are you going to do and more importantly how will your Lenten journey increase the Joy of the Lord in your heart? If you have ideas use the comments to share them, lets see if we can support each other on our common journey during Lent.

Here is something, attributed to Thomas Merton, I got from a priest friend around New Year's but I think it works well for Lent. Maybe it will stimulate some thoughts for you.

Pay attention to people.
Fewer things honor people as much, or make them peaceful more readily, or give them an experience of their worth as clearly as paying attention to them.

Verbalize human experience and teach others to do this.
The more inarticulate we are, the more likely it is that we might seek violence as a way of expressing ourselves.

Reject excessive activity, accomplishments or success.
There is something belligerent about frenetic action.

Practice contemplation.
Contemplation is defined as life review, in silence, connecting our reflection with the ideals we have not achieved, making amends for things we regret, and thanking God for the good we were given, the losses we survived, the love we received beyond all measure.

Embrace silence.
Silence is shattered not by speaking but by eagerness and anxiety to be heard by others. Silence invites others to speak. Genuine silence is creative and liberating.

Resist consumerism.
A desperate need to possess is a form of violence.

Lose, then let go.
We are acculturated to go from success to success. Losing gracefully, even in terms of the long run, is a remarkable virtue. Clutching at success, when letting go is necessary, destroys us.

Read Scripture.
If you were to read Scripture reflectively for only five minutes a day, your life would be enriched. Scripture makes the norm, not whatever is presently fashionable, but what is truly enduring. It roots us and gives us peace amid the turbulence of passing crises we face.

Maintain a sense of history.
We become frantic when we see life in the short run. In the longer view of human history or even our personal histories, patterns of meanings emerge. The good does prevail.

Hold the conviction that people are basically good.
People must be reliable or else the Gospel would not have lasted; Christ would have been forgotten. Much of the violence done in the name of religion has been premised on the idea that people are evil.

May the energies of your heart invite the Holy Spirit to visit you with ever-increasing frequency for dispassion. Eastern Orthodox benediction.