A Catholic blogger I read whose name is Vito, author of the blog Stumbling After Francis: Learning to Live a Capuchin Life, published a blog entry post about his decision to not go online during Lent. I really admire his decision and I honestly don't think I'd be able to do it. The Internet is a big part of my life. I access music, movies, blogs, receive updates from my family and friends, and do my finances online. There's other things I use the web for that I'm no doubt forgetting.
I'm not affiliated with a church at the moment, so I'm not sure if I am even eligible for participating in Lent, but just the same I'm going to give up meat on Fridays and give up sugary foods. Now obviously I'm not going to be able to remove ALL sugars from my diet, but I will eliminate the ones that are nothing but sugar, like candy, soda, Red Bull, etc. Basically junk food is what I'm removing. I hope I can do it. This should be interesting. I'll post updates on my progress.
Work for Heaven: all the rest is nothing!
4 years ago
I checked out the blog, and I loved his post about looking at brothers he had wronged during the "Confiteor."
ReplyDeleteYou are every bit as much entitled to observe Lent as any other Christian. There is something to be said for giving up the internet during Lent, but I think there can be enough value in proper use that giving it up altogether could be excessive.
My former pastor had been a novice in a religious order. He told of the Lent when one of the novices decided to kneel on the floor during all meals. His spiritual director called him and ordered him to sit during the meals, and to have second helpings of the main course and to have dessert at every meal. Because the point of Lent isn't to make a show of being heroic. It is to make space in our lives for God to replace our self-centeredness and sinfulness with his grace and love.
Just giving up meat on Fridays is not easy. It used to be that fish, cheese, and vegetable dishes were readily available everywhere, but less so now.
Anyway, I think you've set yourself a good program.