Lent: Time for a Road Trip

This article appeared in the March, 2011 edition of the Maneline, St. Mark's monthly newsletter.  The dates are off, but the heart of the text remains true.

The view was something like this

Road Trippin'

Last Christmas I returned to my hometown, Austin, Texas. Instead of flying, my wife and I road tripped with my best friend from high school (a youth minister in Harrisonburg) and his wife. Six months into our marriages and new ministry positions, there was much to discuss: the transition to life in Virginia; our different but beautiful communities; and life with a spouse. Beyond the conversations, we shared many “meals” that usually consisted of food purchased at a small-town edition of a fast-food restaurant. But we both brought food along for the journey to share with each other. I had Star Wars gingerbread cookies and he had the most delicious homemade peanut brittle. With friendships refreshed, the end of our trip found us physically tired and hungry for substantial food, which Mom happily provided with homemade lasagna and fresh bread.

During Lent, we all will take a different sort of road trip. Though our life situations are vastly different, the destination is the same: Easter. All the extra “stuff” we do during Lent (both communally and individually) is meant to prepare us for that glorious moment when the bells are rung, the Gloria is sung, and we celebrate the Resurrection!

But what about that road trip? How will we spend our time in the car? Thankfully, the Church has been on quite a few of these road trips and has some suggestions to help change us into people ready to celebrate the Resurrection. She recommends three practices during Lent: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

Prayer
In prayer, our search for God finds a tongue and ears. On my Texas road trip, prayer took the form of conversation – listening and speaking. We talked about everything under the sun, asked each other for gum, and probably said a few “I’m sorrys” for wrong turns and incorrect fast food orders. Our Lenten prayer takes a similar shape: speaking to God about anything and everything, listening to God in silence and with Scripture, asking God for guidance and help, and saying sorry. When we relate to God in this way, our friendship is refreshed and we (s l o w l y) become better guests for the Easter party that God is throwing.

Saying goodbye to fast food can be hard

Fasting
Fasting forces us out of our M.O., our normal way of doing things. During the day long drive, we fasted from comforts normally sought when sleeping, namely a stable, horizontal bed with a variety of coverings and a familiar pillow. The words “I’m going to sleep well tonight!” came out of our mouths the second the motor stopped humming. When we deny ourselves cheeseburgers, Netflix, and judging, we become more aware of the physicality of our body, the depth of our mind, and our quick emotional reactions. By denying ourselves the comforts and normalcy of life, we relearn to enjoy them all the more and our “thanks be to God” becomes more sincere. Fasting during Lent is as much about giving up good things as it is about conversion from bad habits. When we fast from judging AND from listening to music in the car, we enter into better relationship with other Easter party guests and will enjoy the music so much more.

Almsgiving

A statue of a beggar receiving alms

Sharing is difficult, but so much more so when you only have a finite amount of resources. And homemade peanut brittle proved to be very finite on the long trip. Yet, my friends kept giving, not from their excess but from their very limited supply. Lenten almsgiving should affect those closest to us in addition to those most in need. Giving tangible gifts to the poor is a great way to give alms, but what if instead of giving our ugliest, never-worn sweater we gave our favorite jacket? Or if we sat down as a family and decided not to eat out after mass on Sundays and instead give that exact amount to the poor each week? These gifts affect us more because there is an actual cost involved. Giving to the poor then becomes giving ourselves—our time, our post-mass meal, our favorite shirt, our skills—and the gift, in a certain way, becomes more genuine. When we give these gifts of self to the poor and to God, we prepare ourselves to receive the ultimate authentic gift of self at the Easter banquet, the Eucharist.

Lent gives us the wonderful opportunity to reorient ourselves to God by committing to practices meant to make us more fully alive, giving new life to parts of life in need of a change. Our three disciplines are not ends in themselves, but a means to participate in the workings of the Spirit and in the Body of Christ as a whole during this season. We do not do them to win the favor of God, but to become more aware of the love that God has for us by preparing the way.

May our road trip together be fruitful. Happy traveling!

Image Credits: Christian Cable, Thiophene Guy, on flickr

A Good "No-School" Project: Thanksgiving Clothing Drive

Is this your closet?

"I get to sleep in until noon on Monday AND Tuesday!"
It's every student's favorite time of the school year, a four-day weekend.  As a child, my favorite part about long weekends was the shortened week before or after.  But now as an adult, I enjoy working on projects around the house, reading a few more chapters of my latest novel, and catching up with friends.

Pass on one of these these values to your children by planning a special project that will benefit those in need.  In a couple week's time, the annual St. Mark Thanksgiving Clothing Drive (TCD) will be up and running and will need donations from parishioners and others in the area.  Many families have come to rely on the TCD for warm coats and clothes to get through winter.  Here's how you can help:

• Go through your closet and look for warm items to donate.  Make sure the clothes are not raggedy and worn through.
• All sizes, styles, and types of clothes are accepted (but the largest need is for winter clothes).
• Collection begins in the St. Mark Activity Center on Saturday, November 19 (more details forthcoming).

You Clothed Me
Although giving clothes is a good thing in itself, give this project a faith backbone by reading Matthew 25: 31-46 (which, coincidentally, is the Gospel reading the Sunday before Thanksgiving).  Highlight the "clothing the naked" bit, noting that when we give our clothes, we are helping to clothe Christ who is present in the poor.  Jesus truly is "one of the these least brothers."  (Clothing the naked is one of the seven Corporal Works of Mercy, acts that are done to alleviate poverty and suffering in the world.)

Encourage your children (and yourself) to donate one item that you would never want to donate.  When we do that, we loosen the grasp our possessions have on us and open our lives more fully to the presence of Christ in the poor.

What will you donate this year?

Image: photostock / FreeDigitalPhotos.net