I'M SO READY FOR LENT

Oh sweet lent..............I long for the discipline in my life. What is lent? It is season of soul searching and repentence. It is a season for reflection and taking stock. Lent originated in the very earliest days of the Church as a preparatory time for Easter, when the faithful rededicated
themselves and when converts were instructed in the faith and prepared for baptism. By
observing the forty days of Lent the individual Christian imitates Jesus' withdrawal into the
wilderness for forty days.

Lent is a time of stripping down to essentials, as each Christian focuses on his or her individual
realtionship with God. It is a time when Christians remember our baptism, when Jesus washed away our sins, giving us newness of life to celebrate in the triumph of Palm Sunday and the Glory of Easter.

Here are some of the ideas I give my Seventh grade girls:

• Give up your favorite food, drink, candy, tv, or tv program
• Spend time in prayer every day even if only 10 minutes
• Go to mass during the week
• Pray the Rosary daily
• Read scripture or books on the lives of the Saints
• Go to the Stations of the Cross or do them alone at home
• Spend time before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament
• Do acts of Kindness: visit an elderly person, write a letter to a lost friend
• Reach out to that person who seems not to have any friends
• Clean out your closets and give what you don't need to Good Will
• When you deny yourself an item save the money to give to someone less fortunate

So my friends what are you going to do for lent? I know I need to deepen my prayer life and do some soul searching. I know I need to deny myself. I just read an article about a study that was done with 4 year olds. They were offered one marshmellow but if they could wait 15 minutes until their father returned they could have TWO marshmellows. They followed these kids into High School. The kids that showed some discipline were better students, made better decisions and also said no to sex. I remember giving up candy as a young kid. My mom set such a good example for us. When we learn to say NO to ourselves we can say yes to our Lord and what he has for us. If we never say no to our appetites we are just spoiled children. I love being Catholic and having the liturgical year. God bless you and HAPPY LENT!