“Oh No, Lent Already?”

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I checked the calendar and yes, it’s true, Lent is just a couple of days away!

How do you prepare for it?  I had a dear friend who always said, “I HATE Lent” and I don’t quite think that is the attitude I want!  But Lent can turn into a negative if we focus only on what we can’t do, or shouldn’t eat, or have to “give up.”  This Lent, the Motherhouse community is focusing on two sides of Lenten discipline – fasting AND feasting.   Some examples on the prayer card we each received:  “Fast from wanting more; Feast on being thankful…Fast from anger; Feast on patience…Fast from gossip; Feast on silence…Fast from discouragement; Feast on hope.”  None of these are any easier than before, but by reminding me, challenging me and all of us, to feast as well as fast, I face Lent with a different perspective.  The origin of the word Lent is connected to the word for spring.  Can you make this holy season a spring time experience for your heart and soul, a new life moment of both fasting and feasting?

S. Priscilla Wood, OP
Dubuque, IA

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