Are you thinking about what to do for Lent 2022?
In the Busch family nothing gets a kid groaning like mentioning the word, “lent.”
Granted, there is justification for their general dislike for this penitential season. When the kids were little we often made our sacrifices together. For many years we gave up TV for lent. The other dreaded family practice was giving up dessert. One year I had the bright idea that we should spring clean the house. This was the biggest disaster of all and ended after only a few days, and an embarrassing amount of tears (mostly mine!). 🙄
Now most of my kids are adults and Kris is the only kid at home to roll her eyes when I mention lent. She even told me this week that the French word for lent means, “slow!”
I don’t blame her for dreading lent. For the first 54 years of my life I went about my Lenten observances in the same old boring way: give something up or do something that is beyond difficult, then proceed to become grouchy and make an already laborious season miserable beyond belief.
Where is the getting close to Jesus in all of that giving up candy and cleaning frenzy? What was I thinking?
Last year I learned that you don’t have to make yourself unhappy to have a proper lent. If the aim of the season is to draw us closer to our Lord, then Prayer is where it’s at. Making time for prayer is difficult and takes real effort. My family goals this year involve a desire to attend mass every Sunday and to pray together at some point every day. I don’t even know if this will be possible given the schedule challenges we currently have, but it is a noble goal.
I have some personal ideas for myself that I am still trying to decide about. I would love to attend daily mass. I want to get to confession, it has been too long! I have some big topic questions I would like to reflect on this season, like how to make changes that are more friendly to the environment and how do we ever make our church attractive to young people again?
I have been entertaining these ideas and more, but I am going to choose carefully and not take too much on. I would like to feel closer to Jesus and his creation by Easter time ( not make myself irritable!) and I cannot change the world during the 40 days.
But I can transform my heart and bring myself and my family closer to Jesus, one day of Prayer at a time.
The Last Lap (and what comes next) 