Lenten Journey 2011

Ash Wednesday is the start of Lent for millions of Catholics around the world.  It involves going to church and during the special mass the burnt palms from last years palm Sunday are blessed and placed on the forehead of each person attending by the Priest.  When the Priest places the ash on the forehead in a sign of the cross he says "Remember man that thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return" To non-Catholics the ash on the forehead looks ridiculous, daft etc. and I always get a double take from my wife when I get home after mass. To Catholics it doesn't really look any better but we understand it as a sign of Lent beginning.


Why get it at all??  It's an outward sign of repentance for our sins and we are all guilty of sin in one form or another. It dates back to older times when people used to spread ashes over their whole body to signify they were sorry for some action they had committed.  Nowadays a small mark on the forehead is all we get.  To see more on Ash Wednesday have a look at http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Ash_Wednesday


Ash Wednesday itself marks the start of 40 days leading up to Easter Sunday.  The 40 days of Lent for myself are a time to re-look at my life.  I make more time for prayer - something I always try to do but always let other distractions get in the way.  The extra prayer time helps me feels much more spiritual and leads me to feel much closer to God.  This year I'm going to try to include the children in my daily prayer and get them to join me.  I know it may be a bit awkward with them but hopefully this helps them with their own spirituality if not now but perhaps in the future when they have a more mature attitude to prayer and time with God.  I'll be saying the Divine Mercy chaplet each day and the prayers can be found at http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/mercy/dmmap.htm


Lent also means giving up things so I'm giving up all alcohol until Easter.  I'll miss my glasses of wine at the weekend but the whole point of giving up is to make an extra effort and experience the discomfort of missing the things we enjoy in life.  In a very small way to identify with Jesus Christ and the suffering he went through for us.  I know missing the odd glass of wine isn't suffering on the same scale that Christ went through but is is a very small step in the right direction.  Have a look at this link for more info on why we give things up http://www.spirithome.com/lent.html#givingup

Thanks for reading and I'll keep you all in my prayers.