The glory of these forty days

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, marking the beginning of Lent. We began a journey to Easter that begins with the imposition of ashes on our foreheads, and ends with the glorious celebration of Christ's resurrection.


Why is this important to my blog?

Lent is a time of penitence, an introspective period during which we take stock of our lives and our relationships to discover and change what we must to prepare for Easter. During these 40 days we each follow the example of Jesus by sacrificing our own will to the purpose of God.

We strive to give up extravagance, self-indulgence, and chip away all the excess stuff and just focus on our relationship with God. This includes fasting, meditation, self examination and alms giving.


The word “Lent” comes from the Anglo-Saxon word lencten, or spring, the time of year when the days begin to lengthen. Lent itself is always the same period of time, but its starting date is tied to the movable feast of Easter and can be as early as February 4 or as late as March 10.

Again....why is this important to me and my family?

Well, we (mostly I) have made some commitments for these next 40 days. Some are going to be hard, and some extremely hard.

I plan to....

-Give up sweets. My biggest self-indulgent, non-necessary behavior.
-Attend Sunday Mass (barring family illness, or my own, or just not being able to stand after a night of no sleep which to me is the same as being "sick")
-Attend the Monday Night Live Lenten program at the church (will be tough taking 3 kids by myself...but good spiritual food and fellowship)
-Walk the Stations of the Cross at least once
-Examine my behavior and life as a whole and meditate on how I can improve me for God and my family.

So...pray for me. I am actually looking forward to clarity! Right now I only see fog.