Eastertide is upon us and never before have I felt so robbed of my time. Ash Wednesday is on February 14th; that seems a bit soon. But maybe this is the right time. The perfect time to begin the Lenten journey towards Easter day.
As practising Catholics, Easter is a big time for us. We spend the next six weeks being as holy as possible. May I just point out, this does not mean that I will actually BE more holy, only try exceedingly hard to not let the usual mishaps of life leave me swearing. As part of lent we are asked by the church to partake in 3 actions through the 40ish days.
Fasting. Rob always says ''Why is fasting so slow?'' He is right. The days when you think you could just have bread and water are always the longest days. It's like the test is even harder because time moves so slowly. Through lent we are often told to give something up. For us, it has always been chocolates and sweets, and even though you may shudder at the thought, it is fantastic. It is one I love doing every year and Easter morning chocolate is the sweetest tasting chocolate ever. The kids do it as well and do so well at it. We save anything we get given and equally have a big feast of it all on Easter Sunday. The thing is, after a week it doesn't bother them and really it is just the thought of no sweets that makes them worried in the first place. Rob and I usually pick an additional one; we are really able to do chocolates and sweets as all of my childhood was spent giving them up for Easter and it is quite routined. We always look for something really difficult like cheese or bread. I've decided to give up cheese as it will be so so hard for me!!
We are also asked to give more money to those in need. This can be through a variety of ways, but almsgiving is quite a big thing in lent. The giving of yourself and time is also included in this as a way to help and support others. We often all forget this as an action of love but to give your time to helping someone out is a huge thing.
Prayer is the third thing we are called to do. We find lent such a holy time. As we have been surrounded by the church all our lives it is really embedded in us to turn to Jesus this season. We find it quite an emotional time as it is this time that our religion comes alive. What happens over the whole Lent and Easter period is that we focus on the impending death of Jesus and why that all happened. It's kinda the pillar of our faith and within Jesus' journey to the cross we also have a place to walk alongside him and witness just what he did for human kind. This is our faith and what we believe so it is all very important to us.
The end of our journey is Easter weekend which we find a truly humbling and sad time. From the Thursday before Easter, Good Friday and Saturday we find our hearts go into mourning and we have an opportunity to reflect on everything. This is no joke. It really helps align Rob and I in life and very firmly puts a lot in perspective. As sad as it is it really brings out the true joy in all of us. Another reason to all be together and a great way to be part of the Church. The truth of the religion really comes alive and the next 6 weeks help us prepare for that.
Pray for me...... to not be tempted by chocolate, and cheese (Yep, I have picked it) and to truly enjoy the season for all the right reasons.
Do you celebrate Lent?
Just beautiful. I enjoy everything you write but your writing really comes alive when you write about the church. Very inspiring! I feel more guilty now that I missed getting ashes yesterday. Love you E!!
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