Pray, Fast, Give Alms

Last year I was talking to a friend on Ash Wednesday.
"What are you going to do for Lent?"
"I am going to /insert whatever here/. What are you going to do for Lent?"
"I am going to /insert whatever here/."
The time came to leave.

"Well, I am going to go eat some rice."

"I have some tuna and noodles waiting for me."

"See you later, Happy Ash Wednesday!"

And I thought to myself, did I just say that?  

"Happy day of thinking about all the ways you have failed Jesus."

"Happy day of fasting and thinking about your eternal soul."

"Happy day of walking around with ashes on your head and explaining that to everyone you meet."

None of that makes sense...it isn't a happy day.  So I try to save it by saying, "Um, I mean, Happy Lent."

Which doesn't make any sense either.

"Happy 40 days of struggling against your fallen human nature."

"Happy seven weeks of abstaining from meat on Fridays."
"Happy season of trying to understand your mortality."

It was one of those situations where I just "Well you know whatever..." and melted into the wall thinking about what an idiot I am.

It is indescribably beautiful to devote the time to becoming closer to Christ*.  But it isn't happy.  If you do it right it is holy and loving, but it is also soul scathing and painful.  It is hard to change.  So this year I thought it would be great to find a way to first of all, not say anything dumb because I need all the help I can get on that one, and second, encourage each other.

Pray, Fast, Give, is what Lent is about.  Fasting is the most common association people have with Lent, ie "giving things up", but we are actually called to all three things.  You have probably done this without even realizing it.  For example, if you have given up eating out in the past, you fasted from eating out, you gave the money you would have spent on eating out to the hungry, and you prayed for the people you donated to and for yourself.

pray+fast+give is a resource for Lent for whoever would like to use it.  The goal is to build a community of love throughout this season of Lent.  Consider committing to the three-fold commitment of Lent this year and to show that commitment sign off all of your emails with pray+fast+give.  Of course, people will ask what that means.  You can choose to direct them to this Web site or to tell them about Lent yourself.  If you choose the later please don't just share the liturgical explanation but your own personal commitment and experience of Lent.  You don't need to say a lot, your demeanor during the season of Lent will be speaking pretty loud already.

I'll post with ideas and direction.  We'll all walk it together.  Isn't technology wonderful?  Gratias ago Deus pro internet. (That is Latin for Thank God for the internet.)  Please make full use of the internet to email me your struggles, joys, prayer requests, or anything else.  Part of being Catholic is living in community.  We are never alone.

Lent minus one day but let's have the first question of PFG.  This is one my priest asks every Ash Wednesday: What area of your life do you need to focus on to grow closer to God?


Think about it today, I'll be praying for you.






*Thus you are going to become indescribably beautiful over these 40 days.  Even when you don't feel like it, just forge ahead it's true.