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Lent, 2014



At St. Peter's Basilica in 2007.
Ash Wednesday is here and my fast is off to a sleep deprived start, but happy Lent, y'all! Last year I decided to give up using my iPhone in the evenings in order to better focus on the blessings in my life - my family, my time, my home and my faith. It was a great practice and something that I have tried to continue throughout the year by putting my phone down when I get home and waiting until things have mellowed down and Maddie is watching her nightly pre-bedtime 20 minutes of Thomas before I catch up on all the Facebook that has happened since I left work. I have found that it makes my nights much more relaxing and proven that I will not actually wither and die if I do not know every single last thing that is happening on social media for a few hours.

This year I am again focusing on giving up time in the form of reading the Bible and taking some quiet time out of my busy days to read, reflect and pray. I found a great guide for reading the New Testament in 40 days, which I am going to use to help me choose what to read each day. I also have a little book that Matty picked up for me when he went to get ashes this morning, which I have put in my purse and plan to break out and read on my commute or during a break in my work day. My time is extremely valuable to me and I am hoping that dedicating more of it to my faith will bring me closer to God in these forty days, which is the whole reason for Lent, ya know? And I wouldn't have the time to value without my faith, so it seems like a pretty fair thing to dedicate it to.

I will try and avoid my usual tirade about people giving up drinking or eating cookies or whatever despite not being faithful or practicing a religion and I will try and not be rude to the first person that motions for me to remove my ashes from my forehead thinking that I am just unskilled in applying mascara. TRY. Because that is all we can do, us faithful folks, is just try.

Also, I just need to share this app, called Lentsanity with you; it sends push notifications to remind you not to eat meat on Fridays and has daily readings and articles. There is also a video about the Meat Police which is funny in a way only Catholic nerds like me can truly appreciate!


Happy Lent and good luck with whatever your Lenten penance is!

Me at the Vatican, 7 years ago!


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