Starting the Silence

It is no secret I love Lent.  I always have.

But before I go into Lent, let me just say I dutifully partook in Fat Tuesday festivities and ate this jolly doughnut and kept alive our family tradition. Anna, Tricia, Angela, Joe, Jana and Madeline....this one's for you :)

 

 

Avila got the memo it was Fat Tuesday and tried to shut herself in the fridge.



So it starts tomorrow. Whoot! Whoot!

In past years I've given up things like music, cheese and butter, potatoe chips, coffee, and taken lukewarm showers. They were all painfully hard on the will and body.

Over the past few weeks, it has been a running theme, and slowly, has grown into a tug in my heart: to let go of distractions, a desire to "see" and "hear" as Christ wants me to "see" and "hear".

I was reading a fascinating story about St. Scholastica and St. Benedict, sibling saints, in the back of the Magnificat this month. But this stood out to me:

"Faith that works wonders begins with a listening heart. It is no coincidence that the first word in the Rule of Saint Benedict is "Listen"!

So this year for Lent I get to go on a three day Ignatious SILENT retreat :) There is nothing so spiritually powerful. 

But for the other 40 days...

The Fast:
Fasting from the Internet. I am so excited for this. I wanted to choose something difficult, but not impossible. So gone are the pinterest images and ideas, blogs, browsing clothing, shoes, and shirts, facebook notifications and email messages.

If God speaks in the silence, then a fast from all the stimulation, noise, and constant feed will allow me to listen.

 

The Prayer: 
 Andrew and I, usually do something as a couple for Lent. This year, we are joing four other couples after Mass for brunch and bible study together. Since it's the year of faith, it is a good way for me to start reading the catechism and bible more through the study.

The Almsgiving:
I am helping lead a bible study with about 20 other Catholic women in our town. While it may look like another form of prayer, having to clean my house and devote an extra week night to this is not without its difficulties and mostly demands of giving time. I'm so lucky to have such great support from other Catholic women and excited do to Fr. Robert Barron's bible study called "Conversion". It's a six week study on biblical stories of Conversion, like Bartemaeus and the Women at the Well. What I've listened to so far is STELLAR!!

 

But all this...all this Lent is to refocus, take time out to center my life on Christ. In the end, that's all that matters :)

 

Until Easter....Happy Lent!