Anyone else thinking about Lent?

[Britomart]

We will attend Friday morning masses & adoration, and pray the rosary on a more consistent basis. We will also try to continue these after Lent too. Our goal is to make permanent whatever good habit or virture we practiced during Lent.

 

 

I like this. I just read our bishop's monthly letter this morning at church (picked up the newsletter before service) and he talked about concentrating on preparing for Easter, that is, on taking something on, not just giving something up. He also said that anything that's good enough to take on during Lent, or bad enough to give up, is probably worth carrying on with that habit or fast after Lent too.

 

So, your comment really stands out to me, because it seems to echo what he's saying.

 

I am planning on doing some of the traditional fasting, but I'm really hoping this Lent to concentrate on scripture memorization, and prayer, and consciously, constantly turning my eyes towards Jesus (hopefully any fasts I undertake will be prompts to remind me to look towards him). Not that I'm not going to fast, just that I want to concentrate on what I'm taking on, not what I'm giving up. I'm hoping that the good things will push the mediocre things out of my life. Instead of working so hard to get rid of the mediocre things, I want to concentrate on adding the good things. If I put the important things first (I'm hoping), there just won't be room for the less important, less worthy things.

 

At least, I hope that's how it works. That's sort of the experiment I'm hoping to make this Lent. (Is it impious to use a penitential season for experimentation? :tongue_smilie: )

[Peek a Boo]

i posted some stuff last year... :)

 

be sure to use the search feature for previous Lent discussions! :bigear:

[Tress]

I'm going to give up this forum :svengo:. I spend way to much time here (despite my low post count). I have been trying to gradually limit my time here, but that is not working....time to do it more radically.

 

I'm also reading Happy Are You Poor, by Fr. Dubay. I have already started and....talk about radical...that books hurts :blink:.

[ktgrok]

OOH, I like the idea of giving up snapping/yelling. I have an aspie DS who gets very difficult, but when I raise my voice he is even more difficult. Great Idea.

[MomOfOneFunOne]

Fast/Abstinence -- we abstain everyday so for lent this year we're doing completely animal free: no eggs, cheese, milk, et c. vegan.

 

Give up-- We're giving up eating out as a family. We eat out on Wednesdays and at least one other day/week (weekend, usually).

 

Alms -- We're collecting the money from our eat outs as the bulk of our alms. Our Wednesday eat out is easy b/c we always go to the same place and get the same thing (kids free night) We're also instituting a permanent alms thingy that my daughter devised. We recently got a St. Anthony statue with a baby Jesus. When you lose something you're supposed to put the Baby Jesus in the drawer in the base of the statue till St. Anthony helps you find it. Well, we really don't like that so my daughter proposed that we put a dollar into the drawer every time he helps us and then when the drawer is full, we add it to our alms. B/t my keys and her math books and pencils . . . We plan to institute that and continue after lent.

 

Taking up -- MWF daily mass and (every year) Fridays at church for mass, meal, stations, adoration.

 

Reading -- We plan a family read-aloud for after supper but we haven't chosen the title yet.

[DarcyB]

I'm giving up chocolate - I feel like that is so cliche (and my husband is laughing at me) but seriously, I think I am both physically and psychologically addicted and giving it up is going to be a real sacrifice. I also want to eat more simply and give up bringing junk food into the house.

 

 

 

That's how I was with soda (and honestly, still am...still think about it a lot). I gave it up for Lent last year..and kept that up after Lent was over as a permanent fast. It's been hard, and I've had a couple of slips- and almost did last night when I was sorely tempted to have one when no one was around to catch me. It's been really hard for me, but it was a good thing for me to do.

 

We've done a couple of crafts (Ash Wednesday Cross - Crown of Thorns, and I'm still looking for something meaningful for this year.

 

I found this at Kitchen Stewardship - a list of things to do with kids through the season.

 

 

Give up: I really really really need to give up Sweet Tea. It's sort of taken the place of my soda addiction..though I'm not as addicted (really, I can give it up when I want LOL) it's another sugar addiction I could do, but I think it's going to be next year's sacrifice. Because my business is internet related, giving up the web isn't possible, but a huge stumbling block for me is cruising boards. It's *my* socialization in this season, which has caused some damage in our family as far as my ability to school and be the mom properly. Before sugar, this is what I need to sacrifice.

 

Take On: Service to my family. In the last six months or so, I've slowly slipped away from being a good mom and wife. It's been a season of some pretty big depression as well as slovenly behavior, so while it should never be seen as a service I should have to take on as much as it is a service I should always WANT to do, it's something that definitely needs to happen for me.