Lenten blues

It's time for a change of pace. Did you know we're already a third of the way through Lent?

It's not clear to me that all of us are up to speed on Lent. Oh, I'm not pushing a religious agenda here. I firmly believe that everyone has to decide to believe what is best for them. What I've always liked about religions though has been their feast and fest days. They have times of year when there are good things to eat and one is encouraged to share them with others. We all enjoy good food and good company, so regardless of the "reason", these are good times to keep an eye out for.

OK, for those who know, Lent is pretty much the opposite of that. For those who aren't so familiar with the tradition, let me bring you up to speed:

These days, Lent is considered roughly the period between Ash Wednesday (the end of Carnevale or Mardi Gras) and Easter. Traditionally, in the Roman Church, it lasted from the Sunday after Ash Wednesday (known in the church calendar as Quadragesima, derived from the Latin word for "fortieth", since there are exactly forty days from then until Good Friday (the Friday before Easter). The starting and ending dates were changed along the way, so that there just wouldn't be forty days in this time, rather forty workdays in (that is, not counting Sundays). Traditionally, and even for many to this day, it was a time of doing penitence either through fasting or simply giving up luxuries; it was a period of preparation for the High Holiday of Easter. In fact, in German it is still referred to as Fastenzeit (Fasting Time). I'm sure there are a lot of you who see in this just another way for a powerful organization to keep a stronger thumb on its members, but if you stop to think about it, it's a lot more meaningful that it may first appear.

Giving something up, be it chocolate, meat, going to the movies ... it really doesn't matter ... brings this simple, generally harmless, thing more sharply into focus. By consciously doing without something, we come to realize just what a role it plays in our lives. As I'm not a big chocolate fan, giving up chocolate would not only be easy, but more importantly, I probably wouldn't even notice it. I wouldn't miss it for the simple reason that it doesn't play a very big part in my life. If what I've decided to give up plays a big enough role, however, I will find myself thinking about it, and each time I do, I have an opportunity to reflect upon why this particular thing plays such an important role in my life. In other words, consciously doing without something makes us generally more aware, of ourselves and what we are doing with our lives.

This isn't a great exercise in awakening or illumination, and it certainly isn't a systematic means of punishment for alleged transgressions. There is value, though, in stopping to reflect from time to time on what is important and not so important for us, what moves us and what leaves us cold, what we are and what we'd like to be. Awareness ... particularly self-awareness ... isn't a bad thing. Too bad we don't take the opportunities we are given, even when we are being reminded of them. Such is Lent.