Ideas for Lent

Have a listen to what this Priest has to say about sin and the punishment that it brings, even after confessional absolution. I think it might help focus us on the necessity for Lent and it's rigors.

 

By the way, can anyone provide me with good places to donate my money? I already know a few good places, including a local Pro-Life centre, and I know Lifesite set up this new donation website, I think last month; but it doesn’t hurt to know of more good places to donate money.

 

I love this idea

 

You could work at a soup kitchen, write letters to prisoners, visit outside a window at a nursing home, wash Windows for an old person. Giving money is too easy.

 

Thanks for all the wonderful books Padraig! I have already read quite a few of them but am going to check into the rest.

 

This is not an idea for Lent but just a recollection relating to Lent.

About 30 years ago, I was talking to a man who managed an Irish club in the UK midlands. He told me that every Lent beer sales fell by about 50% and that, every year, he had the same conversation with the brewery trying to explain that the massive fall in sales was just a temporary situation and trying to explain to their mystified sales staff about the concepts of sacrifice and temporary abstention from alcohol by normally heavy drinking Irishmen.

I doubt that, these days, any Irish club in the UK notices even a small dip in sales. So much for 'progress'. Things have changed so dramatically and so relatively quickly.

 

Dear Carmel, how specifically do you fast?
May God bless you abundantly!
Michael Pio

 

Family Life International! They are pro life, supporting pregnant women who are in difficulty, they organize prayers in front of abortion clinics, I know them personally. Giving funds to them makes a big positive difference.

 

Sorry I was just looking for Lent ideas again and came across this! I fast really by just only eating what my body needs. Example: mornings I typically start with a half can of spinach. You could use fresh dark greens too but canned spinach has a concentrated amount of magnesium which I need with my meds. I may also have an egg and some nuts like almonds. I typically keep fresh veggies like carrots ready to eat in my fridge and pistachios or almonds handy. I make my own soups and keep them on hand also for meals. I really don't eat a lot of bread or grains because they affect my Rheumatoid Arthritis. I also stay away from boxed goods, sugary goods, and just generally avoid anything that is NOT nutritious for my body. I eat fish and shellfish and a small amount of red meat each week for protein. Lots of fresh fruit and veggies too. Anyway, it's super easy to fast on days want to do it because my emotions and cravings are NOT dictating what I eat at all. The Lord really helped me in this because I was becoming very disabled and I asked Him how to feel better enough to do my duties.

 

Lent is but a few weeks away. With a growth in the opinion that few go to hell, even more so is the attitude many have on the day of a funeral, that their loved one is already in heaven. The above clear teaching of Fr. Clovis should rightly remind us that such an attitude is false, and demonstrates a need for greater love and responsibility. Notice in the highlight below that we must cooperate in the work of God.

Philippians 2:12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

To clarify, v.13 focuses on the fact that God is at work in our lives revealing His will, supplying His grace, encouraging us by His loving Presence.. But v.12 accents that our cooperation and effort before the reality of His Holy Will is necessary.

This is why, back in Chapter 1. Paul stresses our need to lean on Him:

6 And I am sure that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Lord, I look to you to provide the grace and perseverance needed, for I am often careless in my sins and weak in my resistance. Help me to hate sin and fear grieving you, and sacrifice tirelessly to honor you. May you cleanse me of all temporal punishment.

 

Completely off topic but your post reminded me of a Muslim I worked with many years ago named Walid. Walid was working with me under contract and I offered to take him for coffee one morning but he politely declined. He offered that it was Ramadan and that he was fasting during day light hours. He asked me if I was religious and I told him I was a protestant.
He scrunched up his face and told me I really should convert to Catholicism and fast during Lent.
I got a kick out of that at the time and I still do all these years later.

 

I don't know how I will handle fasting. I'm on medications that have to be taken with food and a side effect of one of them is increased appetite so I likely will find a substitute. Like no chip's and sweets for a start.

 

Talking to Muslims can be such a huge eye opener. Many of the things they do we Catholics used to do but fell away from. For instance the idea of going to the Mosque several times a day for prayer. This was the practice in the Early Church and is carried on in the Holy Office of the Church.

Also the idea of both men and women dressing modestly. I am also impressed with their very,very firm Faith. It reminds me of my parents generation.

 

I know this has been said before here… but fasting does not have to be about food, especially if you have a medical condition that could lead to harm. It could be “fasting” from TV, internet, social media.. in my case, it’s going to be an attempt again to fast from my salty language. I will do my fasting from food as well, but this other fast is actually much more difficult for me