TIME FOR A RESET

The last full day of our holiday in Spain was Ash Wednesday, a day of fast and abstinence for Catholics.  I must admit that Terry and I played the senior's get out of jail free card that evening as we indulged in a three course dinner including liqueurs and decadent desserts. 

Upon arrival at home, the first email I opened was from my friends at the Jesuit Office of Advancement. Here was their timely message.

This year, the entire month of March falls in the season of Lent. Since the fourth century, Lent has been observed as a period of penance and renewal, including periods of fasting and abstinence. "By the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert," according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Recently, there has been a move away from "giving up" material things such as certain foods, like peanut butter, which I renounced in the fourth grade. This was truly a very penitential act, a real sacrifice for me as a child. Today, the shift has been towards doing more, more works of mercy, more helping of others, more volunteerism. It seems there has been an increase in giving OF oneself, rather than giving UP material things. Saint Ignatius had a very practical view of the world in general, despite being intensely spiritual. Of all his writings, by far the most well-known is the Spiritual Exercises. In that work, which forms the basis of Jesuit and Ignatian spirituality, he writes, "All the things in this world are gifts of God…We appreciate and use all the gifts of God insofar as they help us develop as loving persons. But if any of these gifts become the centre of our lives, they displace God and so hinder our growth toward our goal." This passage has a place in our Lenten observances, because St. Ignatius gets right to the point. All the "stuff" that we become attached to comes from God and is a gift that we should use to help us be more loving. But the stuff is only temporal, and when it becomes more important than our relationship with God, there is a problem. I hope your Lenten preparations are consoling and will help deepen your relationship with God and each other. The Jesuits are always grateful for your prayers and support and pray for you daily.

What a wonderful reminder.

With the time change adjustment upon our return, I've been waking up at 6 am these days...a special gift indeed as I try to use this time to reconnect with the Good Book and return to a reality that calls for an "I serve," not a "self serve," mentality.

l